Financial modeling is one of the most important things a business can do for its finances. Financial modeling is the concept of building an abstract, conceptual representation of real-world finances, including moving things like expenses or budgets into spreadsheets or presentations. These conceptual representations can be used for a variety of applications, including projects, investments, and more.
Featured Programs
- Financial Analysis for Business Decisions: How to use Tableau and Financial Modelling
- University of Pennsylvania Business and Financial Modeling Specialization
- Coventry University Understanding Financial Statements
Disclaimer: Some courses may include an affiliate link. Courses were chosen first based on the methodology with affiliate links only added after the ranking was complete.
You could get a financial modeling career, but much of what financial modelers do can also be done by financial analysts or accountants, as they are very similar skills. To do financial modeling, you may also work in investment banking or private equity.
If you have ever been intrigued about pursuing a financial modeling career or you need to do your own financial modeling for your small business, this list should interest you. We’ve curated it using a specific methodology that helps us select only the best courses. keep reading to see ten free online courses that could help jump-start your financial modeling career.
Ranking 10 Free Online Courses For Financial Modeling
1. Financial Analysis for Business Decisions: How to Use Tableau and Financial Modelling
Hosted by FutureLearn
Future Learn offers a variety of both free and paid classes, some of them on an “ExpertTrack” that gives users the opportunity to work on an expert path to get started with their career. The educational website provides students with a rotating list of courses, many of them partnered with prestigious institutions and are available to be enrolled in for free. This best free online course for financial modeling was created by Future Learn themselves and is the third of three courses in an Expert Track. The class takes about four weeks to complete if you work at a pace of about four hours a week and the first seven days of this course are offered completely for free for you to decide whether you want to move forward with it or not.
During the course, you will learn about the Tableau data visualization software and how to use it, how to apply common financial models, and how to do a SWOT analysis. Knowing how to use Tableau can help you communicate with a broad audience who may not be well-versed in finances, so you can relay important financial information in an efficient way.
Cost: Free (With Future Learn 7-day free trial)
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 4 weeks
Curriculum: Intermediate
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn about Tableau, an efficient financial modeling software
- Designed for you to reach a broad audience
Cons:
- Content is locked behind a paywall after free trial
- Third of three courses in an expert track, requires some financial knowledge
2. Business and Financial Modeling Specialization
Hosted by Coursera and the University of Pennsylvania
Coursera is widely considered the most popular and most trustworthy MOOC (massive open online course) platform, and many major institutions, including Harvard and Yale, have partnered with the site to create courses and specializations. Coursera connects students with both long and short courses, some of them offered for free and some of them requiring paid access. This specialization is 100-percent free to enroll in and takes approximately six months to complete, and students will earn a free shareable certificate when completing the course. This certificate can easily be shared with employers or on a professional networking site.
During this six-month specialization, you will learn how to make qualified and efficient business and financial decisions. Topics you will cover during the course include learning how to make spreadsheet models, using different modeling techniques, and common applications for your investment analysis. This specialization includes five individual courses, with titles that include Fundamentals of Quantitative Modeling, Introduction to Spreadsheets and Models, and Decision-Making and Scenarios. These top free online courses for financial modeling are instructed by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, which is one of the premier business institutions in the USA.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 6 months
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn from one of America’s best business schools
- Free certificate of achievement
Cons:
- Longer course, requires much more commitment and attention
3. Practical Financial Modeling Bootcamp
Hosted by SkillShare
SkillShare is a very unique educational platform due to the fact that instructors are allowed to upload their own course content to connect with students. SkillShare is a subscription-based site that allows users access to all of the site’s content through a flat monthly fee, but some courses are available with a free membership. This course is one of the site’s “premium” paid courses, but luckily enough, SkillShare offers a 14-day free trial for new users to try the site’s premium content. 14 days is plenty of time to get started on this 12-hour course from CorpFin Pro.
CorpFin Pro is a team of finance professionals that are passionate about sharing their knowledge with students, preparing them to understand the world of corporate finance. This free financial modeling course is considered a very practical one, as you will not only learn how to build a financial model, but you will actually make a model yourself. This course teaches you how to prepare an in-depth financial model, not a simplified version that many companies cut corners with. In order to complete the course, you are expected to have some basic knowledge of both Microsoft Excel and corporate finance.
Cost: Free (With SkillShare Premium 14-day free trial)
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 12 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn how to make an in-depth, detailed financial model
- Instructors have more than a decade of financial experience
Cons:
- Requires some prior knowledge of Excel and corporate finance
- Content is locked behind a paywall after free trial
4. Introduction to Financial Modeling
Hosted by Udemy
Udemy, similar to SkillShare, allows instructors and professors to upload their own course materials to the site’s catalog, also allowing them to choose their own price for their classes. Unlike SkillShare, however, Udemy does not operate on a subscription model, and you have the option of only choosing free courses with no fee attached. This one-hour course teaches you how to build a simplified version of a financial model using Excel, and is instructed by Peter Lynch, who has extensive experience working as a vice president in private equity. Lynch has taught over 114,000 students and has worked for major financial institutions like JPMorgan for more than 8 years.
During this free course, you will learn how to use two years of financial data to create a balance sheet and a fully-integrated financial model. The course is designed for those new to financial modeling and is a great starting point for those who want to move into the accounting, business, or financial modeling sphere. The course will also walk students through creating the different types of financial statements as well as how to make a five-year projection.
Cost: Free
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: Approximately 1.5 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Meant for those who are new to financial modeling
- Taught by an expert in the financial field
Cons:
- Certificate of achievement is not included with the course
5. Financial Modeling Foundations
Hosted by LinkedIn Learning
Most people are familiar with LinkedIn, perhaps the most popular social networking site for business professionals. People use LinkedIn to get jobs, connect with employees, and hear updates from major companies. Many people don’t know, however, that LinkedIn has a sister site called LinkedIn Learning that offers a variety of courses from business professionals designed to move your career forward. This three-hour course covers the beginner and intermediate aspects of financial modeling and is taught by Michael McDonald, a professor of finance at Fairfield University.
During the free financial modeling course, you will learn about why financial modeling is important and the kind of questions you should ask when creating a financial model. The class will also review the three different types of financial statements used in financial modeling, allowing you to apply complex modeling concepts to your visualization in Excel. Having some prior knowledge of Excel would certainly help you complete the course, but it is designed for beginners to the subject of financial modeling. Over 200,000 students have engaged with this course so far, and chapter quizzes at the end of each unit help keep you on track.
Cost: Free (With LinkedIn Learning free trial)
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: Approximately 3 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Taught by an experienced professor of finance
- Hosted by one of the most popular professional networking sites
Cons:
- Offered on a subscription model, content locked behind paywall after free trial
6. Understanding Financial Statements
Hosted by Future Learn
Future Learn partnered with Coventry University for this course to help students master the art of financial planning and budgeting. Every financial statement is attempting to tell you something, and mastering financial statements can be the key to making better business decisions. Future Learn offers a rotating course catalog so students can always find something they’re interested in, partnering with preeminent universities and businesses to create successful courses. The course takes about two weeks to complete if you work at a pace of about 2 hours a week, and you can get extra benefits, including a certificate of achievement, for only $74.
During the free financial modeling course, you’ll learn how to interpret things like income statements, cash flow statements, and statements of financial position. You will learn how revealing these statements are as well as what they’re trying to tell you. With this information, you will understand how to make better business decisions and do the right thing for your finances. The course also covers an introduction to the branches of accounting, identifying different uses of accounting information, and an overview of other financial statements.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes (With $74 fee)
Time to Complete: Approximately 2 weeks
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Get an overview of financial statements and accounting
- Learn what your financial statements can tell you
Cons:
- Certificate of achievement does not come free with the course
7. Financial Maths
Hosted by Alison
This course from Alison takes between 1.5 and 3 hours to complete and teaches students about the basic concepts needed to become proficient in financial math. Alison is an online educational platform that is designed to help students move forward in their chosen career paths or start a new one. The free courses offered on Alison are created for professionals and are mostly centered around concepts like business, science, technology, engineering, or math. Many of the courses on Alison are mobile-friendly, so you can continue your studies no matter where you are during the day. Nearly 3,000 students have enrolled in this course so far and it is rated three out of five stars.
During this free financial modeling course, you will learn about fundamental aspects of taking control of your finances, such as learning how to calculate interest, percentage loss, calculating your depreciation value, and learning about net pay versus take home pay. By the end of the course, you will feel confident about using these skills to take control of your life and save yourself or your business some money.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 1.5-3 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn how to control your finances and save money
- Earn a certification at the end of the course
Cons:
- Short course, only does an overview of finances
- Not focused specifically on financial modeling
8. How To Build A Financial Model in Excel
Hosted by YouTube and The Wall Street School
YouTube is always a great place to find introductory courses, since any video you find on YouTube is free to watch and replay at any time. YouTube is a great resource for those who may not have a lot of time to review structured course materials and instead just need quick overviews or crash courses. This two-and-a-half hour course was created by The Wall Street School, and is the complete beginner’s guide to creating a financial model in Excel. The Wall Street school is a channel that regularly uploads videos on investment banking, CFA, and FRM, so they are an amazing channel to revisit if you ever want some new information.
This tutorial is screen recorded entirely on Excel, so you can watch every single move that the instructor makes when they are creating the financial model. In the video, you will be taken from step one to the very end, and the tutorial is even helpful for those who might not be well-versed in Excel. By the end of the tutorial, you will have a firm grasp on how to create a financial model and will feel confident moving forward.
Cost: Free
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: Approximately 2.5 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Full tutorial, watch every step of the process
- Revisit or rewatch the course at anytime
Cons:
- No certificate of achievement
- Not a structured course with a syllabus
9. Free Financial Modeling Basics – Mini Course
Hosted by Udemy
As mentioned above, Udemy is an educational site that allows instructors and professors to upload their own course content to the site. This free course was created by Piyush Arora, who is a champion of financial modeling and received his MBA in finance. He has worked as an investment banker, a venture capitalist, a CFO, and a private equity investor, and is more than qualified to teach students about financial modeling to help them make better money decisions. Arora attempts to use as many live examples as possible to engage with students and attempts to keep students’ learning level in mind as he teaches.
During the online financial modeling course, students will be introduced to the basics of financial modeling, including understanding things like revenue streams and direct cost assumptions. Students will also learn the difference between direct costs and indirect costs, and how to create assumptions for each cost. This course is also great for those who want to move onto more advanced coursework in financial modeling, as it will prepare you for that.
Cost: Free
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: Approximately 40 minutes
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Taught by a true master in the financial sector
- Starts from square one of financial modeling
Cons:
- No certificate of achievement
- Requires some basic Excel knowledge
10. Free Excel Crash Course – Spreadsheet Tutorial for Finance
Hosted by Corporate Finance Institute
The Corporate Finance Institute, also known as the CFI, has been a global provider of efficient financial modeling since 2016. Programs and certifications created by the CFI have been taught to more than 800,000 students at leading universities, businesses, and institutions. The CFI is certainly a trustworthy source to get information and educational resources about financial modeling, and their primary goal is to help anyone who wants to become a world-class financial analyst. The world is your oyster with the CFI, which is why this is such a great course to take.
During this excel crash course, you will learn all the tools, tips, and tricks available so you can become a champion of Excel. Microsoft Excel is one of the primary tools you will use in financial modeling and financial analysis, so it is vital that you have it mastered. The course is beginner level and assumes that you don’t know much about Excel, and the course takes about 3.5 hours to complete. Even experts will learn something new with this Excel course, which comes from one of the most reputable financial analysis companies.
Cost: Free
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: Approximately 3.5 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Offered by a preeminent financial modeling institution
- Designed specifically for beginners
Cons:
- Certificate of achievement does not come with the course
Frequently Asked Questions About Free Online Courses For Financial Modeling
Financial modeling and finance in general can often be a very intimidating career path, especially if you didn’t previously attend school for finance. It might feel overwhelming to attempt to start a new career in finance, or you might feel as though it’s too complicated for you to pursue at all. This is absolutely not the case! Anyone can pursue a career in financial modeling, and luckily for you, the ten courses on this list allow you to begin pursuing this career for free.
Even if you are feeling intimidated, this is why we’ve designed the following section, which details some of the most commonly asked questions about free online courses for financial modeling. Hopefully, by answering these questions, you can feel a bit more confident about pursuing a financial modeling course and feel prepared to take on the career path of your dreams.
Who Should Take A Free Online Financial Modeling Course?
Anyone can take a financial modeling course, even if you have no prior experience with financial analysis or accounting. While you might find it difficult, there are certainly prerequisites that might make these courses easier. If you have any prior experience with Microsoft Excel, you will likely have an easier time understanding how to create a financial model and how to create things like balance sheets. Additionally, if you’ve studied finance before in any capacity, the material involved in a financial modeling course will likely come easier to you. Regardless of if you have any of these prerequisites, you can absolutely take a financial modeling course.
What Will I Gain From A Free Online Financial Modeling Course?
Learning about financial modeling can help you to achieve an exciting career in finance, which can be an incredibly profitable and lucrative field. When taking a financial modeling course, you will likely first learn about how to use Excel or other similar tools to create your financial model, and the kind of tips and tricks these platforms offer in order for you to be the most efficient worker. You’ll also learn about things like balance sheets, revenue streams, and cost assumptions. These topics will allow you to help others make better business and financial decisions, or even learn how to make those decisions for your own business.
How Long Do Free Financial Modeling Courses Take?
The length of financial modeling courses varies. For some platforms, financial modeling classes are designed to be taken over what would be considered a full semester, so they can take multiple weeks or even months to complete. Other courses are more of a crash course or brief overview of the subject of financial modeling, and they might take only an hour or a few hours to fully complete. While these courses might not offer as much in-depth information as a longer course, it’s all dependent on the kind of learning level you want.
Are Free Online Financial Modeling Courses Difficult?
Financial modeling is certainly not an “easy” subject to learn, but there are things that can make it much easier. Having some prior knowledge of Microsoft Excel or corporate finance can help you move through the course with ease, but even if you don’t have these things, all it takes to get through an online course is a little perseverance. As long as you want to achieve your goal and finish the course, you can make it happen.
Are Free Online Courses For Financial Modeling Worth It?
Most free courses are definitely worth it, but especially ones that cover such important topics like financial modeling. Any of the courses on the list above are 100-percent worth your time and energy, especially because you don’t have anything to lose when you take them. Since no money comes out of your pocket for these courses, you can learn on your own time and take from the course what you please!
The only thing you could possibly stand to lose when taking a free online course is your time, and we can assure you that your time won’t be lost with any of the classes on this list. All of the classes on the list above are taught by reputable professors from highly-regarded institutions, and you are sure to learn something from them.
Disclaimer: Some courses may include an affiliate link. Courses were chosen first based on the methodology with affiliate links only added after the ranking was complete.
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