The DATEDIF function in Excel calculates the difference between two dates in days, months, or years. Its syntax is =DATEDIF(start_date, end_date, unit) with units like “Y” for years, “M” for months, and “D” for days. It also offers specialized calculations for differences in days ignoring months and years (“MD”), months ignoring days and years (“YM”),…
The COLUMNS Function The COLUMNS Function is an Excel Lookup/Reference function. It is useful for looking up and providing the number of columns in a given reference or array. The COLUMNS function, after specifying an Excel range, will return the number of columns that are contained within that range. Formula =COLUMNS(array) The COLUMNS function in…
What is the EXACT Function? The EXACT Function is categorized under Excel TEXT functions. The function helps to test if two or more than two supplied text strings or values are exactly equal and, if so, returns TRUE. Otherwise, it returns FALSE. The EXACT function is case-sensitive. In financial analysis, we often need to compare…
What is the FALSE Function? The FALSE Function is categorized under Excel Logical functions. The function returns the logical value FALSE. It is as good as typing FALSE in an Excel sheet. When doing financial analysis, this function becomes useful when we use it with the TRUE function. For example, we can use it if…
What are the Dogs of the Dow? The Dogs of the Dow refers to a stock-picking strategy that uses the ten highest dividend-yielding stocks from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) each year. The Dogs of the Dow strategy, a long-term investment strategy, was popularized by American money manager and author Michael B. O’Higgins in…
What is an Independent Director? An independent director, in corporate governance, refers to a member of a board of directors who does not have a material relationship with a company and is neither part of its executive team nor involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. Independent Directors – A Requirement to List on…
What are Swap Contracts? Swap contracts are financial derivatives that allow two transacting agents to “swap” revenue streams arising from some underlying assets held by each party. For example, consider the case of an American business that borrowed money from a US-based bank (in USD) but wants to do business in the UK. The company’s…
What is Market Efficiency? Market efficiency is a relatively broad term and can refer to any metric that measures information dispersion in a market. An efficient market is one where all information is transmitted perfectly (everyone receives the information), completely (everyone receives the entire information), instantly (everyone receives the information at once), and for no…
What is the ARABIC Function? The ARABIC Function is an Excel Math and Trigonometry function. The function will convert a Roman numeral to an Arabic numeral. It was introduced in MS Excel 2013. Syntax =ARABIC(text) Where: Text (required argument) – The text is a string enclosed in quotation marks. It can also be an empty…
What is the CONCATENATE Function? The CONCATENATE Function is categorized under Excel Text Functions. The function helps to join two or more strings into one string. As a financial analyst, we often deal with data when doing financial analysis. The data is not always structured for analysis and we often need to combine data from…
