Excel Shortcuts for Financial Modeling

Last week one our readers asked me to share the most important financial modeling shortcuts that I think can tremendously increase the efficiency and accuracy while making financial models

Although I was just asked to share 10 shortcuts but I thought of making a video (to discuss about 30 shortcuts) and show you where and how exactly do I use these shortcuts to speed up my work while creating financial models

Just to make the learning structured, I divided the shortcuts in 4 main phases of financial modeling

1. Shortcuts to set up the model
2. Shortcuts to make the model
3. Shortcuts to audit the model
4. A few saving tips in the end 🙂

 

Let’s dive right into this… and this is not just restricted to financial modelers, there are a lot of tips and tricks that a regular excel user can also pick up

 

 

List of shortcuts discussed in the video..

Plus a few extra that I thought of, after recording the video 😀

 

Excel Shortcuts most helpful in setting up the financial model (not in any particular order)

1. ALT H O R – Rename the sheet
2. SHIFT + F11 – Insert a new sheet
3. Hold the CTRL key and drag the sheet to copy it
4. ALT O C W – Adjust column width to a specific value
5. ALT H O H – Adjust row height to a specific value
6. CTRL + Arrow Keys – Move to the edge of next data region
7. CTRL + Home – Move to the beginning of a worksheet
8. SHIFT + Space – Select the entire row
9. CTRL + Space –  Select the entire column
10. ALT H AM – To place the text in the middle of the cell
11. F4 Key – To repeat the last action. Note that F4 is also used to apply the $ sign when the cell is in the edit mode
12. ALT W F F – Freeze panes
13. ALT W VG – Turn on / off the gridlines
14. Ctrl + 0 (zero) – Hide the selected columns

 

Excel Shortcuts most helpful in making the financial model (not in any particular order)

1. CTRL + 1 – To open the format cells box
2. Alt + = (equal sign) – Apply autosum
3. Ctrl + F3 – To open the name manager
4. Press the Tab key (while writing the formula) – To autocomplete the named range/formula
5. Ctrl + Page Up – Go to the previous sheet in a workbook
6. Ctrl + Page Down – Go to the next sheet in a workbook
7. Ctrl + – (Minus) – Delete Cell/Row/Column. It pops up a menu to select further options
8. Ctrl + – (with row / column Selected) – Delete row / Delete column
9. Alt I R – Insert row
10. Alt + F1 – Create a default chart with the selected data
11. Alt + Shift + Arrow Right or ALT A G G – Group rows or columns
12. Alt + Shift + Arrow Left or ALT A U U – Ungroup rows or columns

 

Excel Shortcuts most helpful in auditing the financial model (not in any particular order)

1. F2 – To open the cell in edit mode
2. ALT T U D – To trace dependent cells (with arrows)
3. ALT T U T – To trace precedent cells (with arrows)
4. ALT T U A – To remove arrows
5. ALT T U F – To open evaluate formula box
6. Select the cell address and press F9 Key – to do calculations inside the cell edit mode
7. Select the cell address and press F5 Key – to go to the selected cell
8. Ctrl [ – Moves the active cell to the first cell in the formula and selects the other cells used

 

Saving Tips for Financial Models

• F12 – Open save as window
• Save the model in versions and add comments

DOWNLOAD THE SHORTCUTS FROM BELOW (pdf)

More Shortcuts and Quick Tricks

1. 100 + Excel Shortcuts (pdf)
2. 60 + VBA Shortcuts (pdf)
3. Border Shortcuts
4. Shortcut to apply filter
5. 30 Evergreen productivity hacks in Excel

 

Financial Modeling Resources

1. Learn cell naming
2. Formula Auditing Tricks
3. Make timescales for automating financial models Part 1
4. Make timescales for automating financial models Part 2
5. Best financial modeling formatting practices