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◆ Models I · drill · Financial Modeling Keyboard Mastery track

Balance sources and uses

sources must equal uses — sponsor equity is the plug, so the check reads zero by construction and never by typing.
The sponsor’s investment committee sits at eight tomorrow and the deal book opens on this page. The debt and the rollover are committed at the numbers shown, and sponsor equity funds whatever is left over. Total the uses, size the sponsor’s equity against them, total the sources, and prove the check row reads zero — then common-size both sides, each line as a percent of its own total, so the committee can see where every dollar comes from and where it goes.
train this drill → par 92s · optimal 89 keys · keyboard only · free
The shortcuts in this drill
Alt walks: tap Alt, release, then the letters in sequence — each key steps one ribbon menu. On a Mac, tap and use the same letters (KeyTips, Excel 2024+).
Shift+↓⇧↓ on macExtend selection one cell
Ctrl+D⌘D on macFill down from the cell above
Build the logic once in the top cell, select down, and stamp it — the standard way to fill a schedule.
Shift+→⇧→ on macExtend selection one cell
Nudge a selection one cell at a time when the block you need doesn’t end at a data edge.
Ctrl+B⌘B on macBold
Bold marks structure: titles, total rows, anything the reviewer’s eye should land on first.
Alt h b p⌥ h b p on macTop border
Top border above a total row — the accounting ruling that says “this line sums the ones above.”
Ctrl+S⌘S on macSave
functions you'll type: SUM()
The optimal line
the par-setting sequence, straight through:
total C9=SUM(C5:C8) · plug C15=C9-C12-C13-C14 · total C16 · check C18=C16-C9 · D5=C5/$C$9 f4 · ctrl+d both columns · ctrl+b + alt h b p both totals · ctrl+s
More Models I drills
Build the discount rate
Unlever a five-comp beta set, relever at your own structure, weight both sides
Build the unlevered FCF
EBIT → less taxes → NOPAT → plus D&A, less capex and the NWC build: the row every DCF disc
Discount the cash flows
Discount factors × free cash flows build the present-value row; a Gordon terminal value an
Run the comps
Build both enterprise-value multiples across the peer set, read the median, high and low,
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