Week 4: Excel Fundamentals & FSA Setup

Part 2 begins. You work the Excel formula toolkit until it is automatic, then ingest the real Compustat data with Power Query and winsorize it. The workbook you build is the start of Project 1.

Lab 4 and Homework 4 are due Wednesday, June 10, 12:00 PM (noon) Mountain.

Lecture

• Excel Fundamentals & FSA Setup (interactive lecture)
  Self-paced deck. Each slide carries an in-deck AI tutor and a self-check. The grid, references, data types, the FSA formula toolkit, and what financial-statement analysis is.

Lab 4

• Lab 4 walkthrough
  A short orientation to the workbook: how the amber cells work, the reference tabs, what each numbered tab covers, and how many formulas to expect. Start here.
• Download the Lab 4 workbook (lab_04_template.xlsx)
  The template you fill in. Every amber cell needs a formula you type.

Practice trainers

• FSA Formula Drill
  The same concepts as Lab 4 — IF, IFS, AND/OR, SUMIFS, and the lookups — with an AI tutor that helps you reason a formula out without handing over the answer.
• How to Read an Excel Formula
  Click any part of a real formula to learn what it is called and what it does: references, ranges, operators, and functions. A good warm-up before the lab.
• Winsorizing Outliers
  The percentile-cap technique you apply in the homework, with a live demo of how capping the extremes pulls a mean back toward the median.

Explore the data

• FSA SQL Workbench
  The same Compustat data in your browser. Write SQL and cross-check the numbers you build in Excel. Optional.

Optional: inheriting a workbook

• Inheriting a Spreadsheet: the Audit Checklist
  The seven-pass checklist for a workbook someone hands you: show formulas, confirm calc mode, hunt hardcodes, trace reference errors, check data types and the edges.
• Guided Workflow: Audit an Inherited Workbook
  A guided, step-by-step walkthrough. Open the practice workbook and work each audit move for real; the AI tutor coaches the written steps.