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What Excel Skills Are Employers Looking For? Here Are the Top 10

What Excel Skills Are Most in Demand? Employers look for Excel skills that demonstrate efficiency, analytical capability, and clear communication. The most valued skills include building professional workbooks, using keyboard shortcuts, applying statistical functions, creating PivotTables, and visualizing data through charts and dashboards.  1. Building Professional Workbooks Employers value professional workbooks because they’re auditable, shareable,…

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Trade Lifecycle: The Process of Buying and Selling Securities

What Is the Trade Lifecycle? The trade lifecycle is the end-to-end process for buying or selling securities in financial markets. The trade lifecycle includes initiation, order matching, trade capture, confirmation, custodian instructions, clearing, and settlement. The lifecycle of a trade demonstrates how capital markets move securities and cash between buyers and sellers through a coordinated…

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Off-Balance Sheet Financing: Definition, Uses, and Types

What Is Off-Balance Sheet Financing? Off-balance sheet financing is an accounting practice used to keep certain assets or liabilities from appearing on a company’s balance sheet. Companies use off-balance sheet financing to maintain lower leverage ratios, comply with debt covenants, and manage financial risk while preserving access to funding and liquidity. Off-balance sheet financing requires…

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What’s New at CFI | Job Board

In this episode of What’s New at CFI on FinPod, we discuss our CFI Job Board, a curated resource designed to connect you directly with top finance roles. We discuss why this feature is the “natural endpoint” of your learning journey and reveals the best resources to land your dream job. This episode covers: The…

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Excel Functions for Data Preparation: Glossary of Terms

What Is Data Preparation in Excel? Data preparation in Excel is the process of cleaning, organizing, and structuring raw data so it’s ready for analysis or visualization. Excel provides specialized functions that automate this work, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and usability across workbooks. Examples of useful Excel functions for data preparation include FILTER, UNIQUE, SORT, and…

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Bookings vs. Billings: SaaS Business Model Guide

Bookings vs. Billings: What’s the Difference? Bookings represent the total value of customer contracts a company secures, while billings reflect the amount of those contracts invoiced within a period. Bookings show future revenue potential, and billings track when those commitments turn into invoices and expected cash flow.  In the SaaS industry, bookings and billings matter…

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Free Cash Flow Conversion: Guide to Calculation and Analysis

What Is Free Cash Flow Conversion? Free Cash Flow (FCF) Conversion is a liquidity ratio that measures the rate at which a company turns EBITDA into free cash flow. It shows the proportion of earnings available for reinvestment, debt repayment, or shareholder returns after covering capital expenditures and investments in working capital. Analysts use the…

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