DCF Modeling Courses to Value Companies for Investment Bankers

DCF modelling courses teach professionals how to construct accurate financial projections, assess company valuations, and evaluate investment opportunities. This knowledge allows employees to provide more insightful advice to clients, make better-informed strategic recommendations, and contribute more effectively to complex financial transactions such as mergers and acquisitions.

Table of Contents

• Why Do Investment Bankers Need to Learn DCF Modelling?
• List of DCF Modeling Courses For Investment Bankers
• Discounted Cash Flow Modeling 
• Financial Modeling: Build a Complete DCF Valuation Model
• Financial Modelling with Python & Excel : DCF Valuation
• NYIF: Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Other Valuation Methodologies
• Valuation for Startups Using Discounted Cash Flows Approach

Why Do Investment Bankers Need to Learn DCF Modelling?

DCF or Discounted Cash Flow Models are important for investment bankers for the following reasons:

1. DCF is a fundamental method for valuing companies and assets. It helps bankers estimate the intrinsic value of a business, which is crucial for mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings (IPOs), and other financial transactions.
2. The DCF model requires a deep understanding of a company's financials, including its cash flows, growth rates, and risk factors. This analysis is essential for investment bankers to assess the financial health and prospects of the company.
3. DCF provides a framework for evaluating investment opportunities and making informed decisions about capital allocation, helping bankers advise clients on strategic moves.
4. Building a DCF model involves creating detailed financial projections, which is a core skill for investment bankers when preparing pitch books or advising clients on future strategies.
5. DCF models allow bankers to perform sensitivity analyses, helping them understand how changes in key variables affect a company's value. This is crucial for risk assessment and scenario planning.
6. This financial model is widely used and respected in the finance industry, making it an essential skill for investment bankers to communicate effectively with clients and colleagues.
7. While DCF has limitations, it complements other valuation methods like comparable company analysis and precedent transactions, providing a more comprehensive view of a company's value.

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List of DCF Modeling Courses For Investment Bankers

Following DCF modelling courses are suitable for investment bankers:

1. Discounted Cash Flow Modeling

By enrolling in this course, students learn to forecast a company's financials, discount company's cash flow to the present and calculate enterprise value, fair value per share and equity value. Those who complete this course will gain expertise in financial data analysis. 

Course Name	Discounted Cash Flow Modeling
Duration	2 hours
Provider	Coursera
Course Fee	Free
Trainers	Bekhruzbek Ochilov, MCSI, PAGRC
Skills Gained	Financial Modelling
Students Enrolled	57,920 students
Rating	4.3/ 5.0 (665 reviews)

Value for Money: Students can access tools and required resources in a pre-configured cloud workspace.
Learner’s Experience: “Great course and instructor. Helped gain confidence in the concepts of DCF and WACC. I wish to pursue Investment Banking as a career thus it is beneficial for me to know these concepts thoroughly.” Review posted on Coursera.

2. Financial Modeling: Build a Complete DCF Valuation Model

Through this course, students will learn to build cash flow statement as well as valuation model and perform sensitivity analysis. After the course completion, students will be competent enough to value a company and create models with multiple scenario.

Course Name	Financial Modeling: Build a Complete DCF Valuation Model
Duration	5h 35m
Provider	Udemy
Course Fee	₹ 3,699
Skills Gained	Financial Modelling
Students Enrolled	35,686 students
Rating	4.6/5.0 (5833 ratings)

Value for Money: No significant experience is required for enrolling in this course. Those who have enrolled in this course will get unlimited access to all the course materials.

Learner’s Experience: “The course was very concise and covered practical valuation scenarios of well-known industry giants. The practical approach using published financial information was very insightful. A big thanks to the instructors. Would love additional information on the product demand forecasting and valuation of new companies/startups” Review posted on Udemy.

3. Financial Modelling with Python & Excel : DCF Valuation

Through this course, students will be able to build a complete DCF model from scratch both in Excel and Python. The course teaches students the skills required to perform a fundamental analysis of a company's financial statement.

Course Name	Financial Modelling with Python & Excel : DCF Valuation
Duration	10h 12m
Provider	Udemy
Course Fee	₹ 2,999
Skills Gained	Financial Modelling
Students Enrolled	35,686 students
Rating	4.6/5.0 (5833 ratings)

Value for Money: Those who do not have a background in Finance or Coding can take up this course to learn how to build DCF models from scratch.

Learner’s Experience: “It is basically a excel and python course. It is good but the assumpted values used are not explained. It would have made for a better course if explained where the required information (tax rates etc) can be found.” Review posted on Udemy.

4. NYIF: Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Other Valuation Methodologies

This course will cover different methods for conducting DCF valuations, source of input values and what is the rationale behind using free cash flow compared to other measures of net resource flows while valuing a firm or its common equity.

Course Name	NYIF: Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Other Valuation Methodologies
Duration	4 weeks
Provider	edX
Course Fee	₹ 21,010
Skills Gained	Discounted Cash Flow Analysis, Alternate Valuation Methodologies and Relative Valuation Techniques
Trainer	Douglas Carroll

Value for Money: Students can complete this course at their own pace. This allows flexibility in balancing studies and other commitments.

5. Valuation for Startups Using Discounted Cash Flows Approach

The course covers concepts related to Time value of money and the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) approach. Students will learn methods to estimate the number of periods, annual payments and interest rate with Excel. 

Course Name	Valuation for Startups Using Discounted Cash Flows Approach
Duration	10h 12m
Provider	Coursera
Course Fee	₹ 4,115/month
Skills Gained	Discounted Cash Flow, Enterprise Value, Bond Valuation, Present Value
Students Enrolled	19,656  students
Rating	4.3 /5.0 (327 reviews)

Learner’s Experience: “Lectures are clear. The quizzes are also OK, but I think rounding off instructions need to be made clearer in order to quickly move through the evaluation assignments. One possibility is a slight language barrier between instructors' team (Korean) and an English speaking audience. But this did not deter me from making quick progress through this course. Most of the slideshow and lecture material is clear and any clarifications that are sought are answered within 24-48 hours latest. I am quite satisfied with this course and I would recommend it for beginners in this subject area.” Review posted on Coursera.