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Students have great motivation to study capital budgeting with Invest for Excel®
April 12, 2013
Aalto University selected leading software Invest for Excel® by DataPartner as the program that best illustrates aspects of investment analysis. The software has been deployed since 2011 and is used in every edition of capital budgeting course for the students of Master’s degree program. “Students’ motivation to learn the subject goes very high as they can take advantage of software used for real business decisions by leading Finnish and international companies such as Stora Enso, Outokumpu or Fortum. They realize the relevance and importance of capital budgeting process not only through theory but through solving practical tasks using dedicated software – Invest for Excel®.” says Ph.D. Jari Huikku, who is responsible for the Capital budgeting course.
Students get a firsthand experience with case studies in the field and acquire best practices on how to approach analysis of investment projects.
“They can learn just so much more by experimenting with the program, compared to just following the lecture” Huikku admits.
Better understanding of corporate finance and accounting provided
“As Invest for Excel® has all relevant financial statements inbuilt, it enhances understanding of interplay between accounting and the cash flow figures. It is important learning aspect for students.” states Huikku.
Implementation in practice
Invest for Excel® is installed in a university classroom, so that students can have access to software when needed. The program is first introduced to students during one hour lecture, while the presenter solves the investment case study step by step and shows the main features. As the tool is intuitive, such a presentation sufficiently prepares students for individual work. The task is to solve a case study of investment individually in Invest for Excel® and to print out the reports and findings with conclusions. The task involves building the cash flow model of an investment, analysis of financial statements, profitability analysis, sensitivity, break-even on various parameters and comparisons with other alternatives. If needed, students get assistance from a support person who is often present in the classroom and assists students with questions regarding software features.
“It is a great learning tool. Students can explore new things. Sensitivity analysis is a very strong feature and also possibility to quickly simulate scenarios.” observes Marko Mäkinen (support person).
After completing the course, students can use the software as long as they need it, for calculating their first business plans or for writing the thesis. “We have good experience with Invest for Excel® and the students like it! We will certainly continue using it in the future” comments Huikku.