Practical EXCEL for the Modern Accountant: Building Functional Spreadsheets in Accounting Scenarios

Description

This is a 2-day workshop to be conducted on 10th - 11th Apr 2025.

Excel can do anything and everything as long as you teach it to do so.

In this highly practical workshop, you will learn to apply Excel functions and best practices to various accounting scenarios to facilitate compliance with the accounting and regulatory requirements

The Trainer will guide you through the hands-on exercises and case studies and you will learn how to build the various spreadsheets that work for you and reduce human efforts and errors in the longer run.

Programme Outline

• Get to know Excel again—the right mindset
• What is Excel and what it can do for you
• Its strength and weaknesses
• How to train your best assistant Excel? Make it your buddy not enemy
• Design approach
• Good practices
• Do’s and don’ts
• Common pitfalls
• Fix the laggy spreadsheets
• Everything about Excel that accountants need to know
• The most useful shortcuts
• Commonly-used functions for accountants
• Cell formatting
• PivotTables
• Power Query basic
• Month-end
• Prepare financial statements / management accounts
• Balance sheet schedules
• Prepayment schedule
• Cash flow statement
• Automate closing review
• IFRS 16 / IFRS 9 (financial instruments at amortised cost)
• Compute implicit rate and present value (discount cash flow)
• Loan / liability amortisation schedule (interest accretion)
• Segregating current and non-current
• IAS 36 Impairment of Assets
• Discounted cash flow for value in use calculation
• Miscellaneous
• Month-end closing checklist and progress tracker
• Consolidate multiple files/forms
• Contract register
• Building forms in Excel

Participants are required to bring along their laptops with Excel installed (preferably Office 365—app version, at least Excel 2013).

This workshop qualifies for 14.0 CPE hours in Information Technology (Category 5).

What you will learn

• A practical workshop for Accountants conducted by an Accountant. Hence, the Trainer understands your needs & pains, and the solutions that work best for you
• This workshop teaches you to teach EXCEL. So that you will build Excel spreadsheets that work for you and reduce human efforts in the longer run
• Learn through practical applications. Learn through practical examples that you can relate to your work
• Apply Excel functions and best practices to various accounting scenarios to facilitate compliance with the requirements

Target Audience

• Accountants who use Excel or spreadsheet applications. To get the most value out of this workshop, you should have at least 1 year of experience in using Excel and know its basic functions. 

Expert Speaker

Mike Ng
BFP, ACA, CA (Singapore)

Mike is a passionate accountant and an Excel enthusiast, with more than 10 years of accounting experience and more than 25 years (not a typographical error) of Excel experience. As the co-founder of a consultancy practice, he advises clients on accounting and tax matters as well process automation. He previously held managerial positions in the finance team of a renowned hospitality group, a tech start-up and a large global FMCG company. In these roles, he spearheads the full spectrum of finance functions.

Prior to joining the commercial sector, Mike was an external auditor at a Big 4 public accounting firm. He served clients in the real estate, hospitality, manufacturing and trading industries. Apart from his wealth of finance experience, he is heavily involved in ERP implementation projects.

Mike believes in Excel being the best assistant to accountants. He enjoys designing spreadsheets that enable accountants to report financial information efficiently and accurately, but with less effort. Impressed by the SUM function his father taught him at the age of 7, spreadsheet designing became his hobby since then. The knowledge and Excel skills he developed over the years have benefited him tremendously. Throughout his career, he developed numerous spreadsheets that are specially tailored to specific requirements. These spreadsheets aim to enhance efficiency and control in routine accounting processes.

Mike is a Chartered Accountant, ICAEW Business and Finance Professional and a Microsoft Excel Expert. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of Melbourne.