Financial Modelling as a Sport
Background context
For those that are not aware of it in 2012 the world’s first ever international financial modelling competition, Modeloff, was created.
A heavily male dominated competition that celebrates the winners of the competition and many of the most talented (Top 50) in the world, whilst the average Excel user stares in awe.
Today a few others have copied this idea by creating their own competition to celebrate talented modellers, whilst the average Excel user is still struggling with vlookups and copy paste.
Whilst I never officially competed in the competition, I was too busy competing in the real world and educating my team on the importance of this skill, I supported Modeloff in expanding its brand and presence globally.
Making Financial Modelling cool is certainly something I supported heavily as it was a highly in-demand skill but sadly very under-rated and under-valued.
I supported it through talking at 3 Modeloff Global Training Camps (2 Sydney, 1 Hong Kong) and sharing some of my example solutions.
It was an amazing journey at the start of creating Model Citizn and also enabled me to launch the concepts around the Future of Financial Modelling (FOFM) and the technology that is pushing the boundaries of what it takes to build models faster and visualise them in a more engaging manner.
Go to www.modeloff.com for more information and also past questions.
What does it involve?
In the modeloff competition, competitors have to complete modelling questions (which are not always financial) and use Excel to rapidly develop their modelling solution and then use that model to answer a series of questions based on the data or assumptions provided.
They are battling it out against each other under time pressure.
All online, time based and everyone competes at the same time globally to prevent any cheating.
Multiple choice answers enables rapid marking of results but in the later rounds other aspects are considered as well in determining winners.
The finals have been in New York and London and some of the best spreadsheet modellers of our time have competed but only ever usinf Excel (some pretty good VBA skills too I might add).
No PowerBI, no automation and nothing more than Excel solutions shown in numbers.
You never have to present or pitch your results to an audience its binary in many respects.
You never have to engage in a conversation and influence the users of your model and navigate a complex decision that is real life.
But as a professional modeller needing to share my models with clients and staff, visualise the outputs in dynamic conversations I felt the full picture of what it takes to get the true value from modelling was missing from the competition.
How is Modeloff keeping pace with change?
Modeloff has not kept pace with all the technologies and changes in tools we see today.
It was still the best thing to happen to the financial modelling community, but things dont stay static for long.
Given the rise in modelling technologies and automation, I feel more needs to be done in this space to better equip us for the future.
Not long ago Modeloff was purchased by Gridlines and a glimpse of the innovation in financial modelling (which I have been pushing for a while) was starting to shine through the Financial Modelling Summit and Innovation Awards.
As a judge at the worlds first Financial Modelling Innovation Awards (FMIA) I feel that a competition that only focuses on Excel and doesn't cover the full capabilities of what it means to be a professional financial modeller including using other tools is a little dated.
Modeloff 1.0 is in need of an upgrade.
The fact that the winner of the FMIA included ValQ, Visyond (outside Excel) and others who have pushed beyond Excel is exactly the sort of things that is needed for the sector to not only thrive but in some cases survive.
So what's next?
I hear from a very reliable source that Modeloff 2.0 is already in the early stages of development.
It's going to be bigger than anything ever seen before by the financial modelling community.
New boundaries are going to be developed and like its original, Modeloff V1.0, is expected to revolutionise ways in which our community enhances, developes and celebrates financial modelling skills.
There couldn't be a better time to once again learn and apply this vital skill in navigating the uncertainty we see in the world today using a skill like Financial Modelling.