Excel, often called the backbone of finance, is a tool no professional in investment banking, private equity, or corporate finance can afford to overlook. Mastering Excel is not just about technical skills but about creating purpose-built, clear, credible, and efficient spreadsheets that people trust. This trust, when consistently earned, can significantly enhance your professional reputation. In this article, we aim to share our hard-earned experience with you so you can benefit from it.Opening a spreadsheet and finding a disorganised mess of numbers is a nightmare for most professionals. They seek a clear, accurate presentation and calculation of the numbers that matter. This requires having the critical numbers in a logical place and designing the spreadsheet to calculate those numbers to the required level of detail. To achieve this, it's crucial to have a clear roadmap before you start building any spreadsheet or financial model.In creating this roadmap:Start by thinking about what decisions/purposes the spreadsheet will be used for.Determine the most critical numbers based on the spreadsheet's purpose.Look at the assumptions that affect the critical numbers the most. Work backwards, thinking through the formulas required, the different methods and assumptions availableDevelop a plan to create the spreadsheet in the most logical layout, from inputs to critical numbers.For example, you may be seeking to calculate the debt capacity of a company. Your spreadsheet will determine how much money the company can comfortably borrow and repay within a given period. From a discussion with the director of the deal team, you are told that the most crucial number to ensure is calculated correctly is cashflow available for debt service (CFADs). For this retail business, you know the most critical influence of CFADs is the change in inventory (an element of net working capital). Therefore, in your spreadsheet roadmap, you plan to calculate the change in inventory at a more granular level, calculating the change in inventory at a business division rather than a group level. You plan to show the summary of key lines at the top of the spreadsheet, adding up to CFADs. CFADs are bold and underlined with core calculations below the summary, clearly showing each step of the calculation.Formatting: When I started as an analyst, I was told, “Financial modelling is 60% formatting and 40% operations. Make sure your spreadsheet looks good. Otherwise, people won't trust it.” That advice has served me well throughout my career.Before you finalise your first draft of the spreadsheet, make sure it is formatted well. Does your spreadsheet look good? For me, examples of what good formatting include:Clear layout and logical flow of calculations (e.g. complex calculations broken into multiple lines)Text and headers consistent in font and sizeConsistent use of cell widths, heights and formats (e.g. number of decimal places, alignment, colour coding, or use of currency symbols)Minimise the number of unique formulas: The best practice is to use the same formula across each row to make a spreadsheet easy to review and check. This allows the reviewer to check the first column and know the remaining columns are correct. It also adds flexibility if you need to extend the model for another year. Reducing the number of unique formulas will also lessen the audit cost if the model needs to be audited. In practice, this can be difficult and sometimes requires some creativity – see below the ‘Tips and Tricks’ sections for ideas.Have error checks throughout your spreadsheets: Knowing if your spreadsheets have errors is essential. Error checks are a great way to do this. They provide a safety net and ensure your spreadsheet is accurate and reliable. For example, within an integrated three-statement financial model, ensuring the balance sheet balances is key to ensuring the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement all integrate correctly.Learning to use Excel without a mouse is one of the most critical skills for an analyst. This is not only to produce work quicker but also to protect the analyst's wrist health. I’ve had colleagues who didn’t learn the shortcut skills well and developed repetitive strain injuries from the long hours spent in Excel. Learning the shortcut keys is reasonably straightforward and is transferable to other office applications such as PowerPoint.I won’t go into a long list of shortcuts (but comment below if you would like us to write an article on this); they can be summarised mainly under the following categories:Alt shortcuts – effectively navigating the office ribbon (top tools panel). For example, Alt + H + B + O, add a bottom border on selected cells. H selects the home tab, B selects borders, and O selects the bottom border. These are easy to learn because as you push each letter after Alt, the following options appear in the toolbar at the top of the screenCtrl shortcut – knowing the more direct shortcuts can save time. You will likely know Ctrl C (Copy) and Ctrl V (Paste). However, there is a huge list that can speed up your workflow. My favour is Ctrl + Alt (held) + V (Special Paste), as you can use it to past formatting (Ctrl + alt + V + T) without changing the formula, allowing formatting of a spreadsheet to be done very quicklyF1-12 key shortcuts – there are only 12 of them, so they are easy to learn. My favourite is F5, which allows you to navigate a spreadsheet efficiently using the referenced cells in a formula.Here are a few select final tips and tricksWhat is the quickest way to check data in your spreadsheet? Use Graphs. It is much quicker to see errors visually, and you can create graphs very quickly with shortcut keysWhat is the best way to reduce the number of unique formulas when financial modelling? Use flags – use a row with ones and zeros, using a 1 to trigger a formula on a line(s) below. This can be as simple as multiplying the flag line by the formula. When the flag is zero, the formula will be zero, and when it is 1, the formula will be calculatedHow can I move around a spreadsheet more efficiently? Hide unused columns and rows, then use the Ctrl + arrows keys to move. Add an extra column on the far left and put an x beside each spreadsheet section for extra speed. This will allow you to move from one section to the next quicker using the Ctrl + arrow key shortcuts.How can I make formulas less complex and show my work? Use schedules at the bottom of the main part of your spreadsheet for clarity. For example, the classic financial modelling schedule is: Beginning Balance, Additions, Subtractions, Ending balanceIf the above has been helpful, please feel free to share. If you have any questions, comment below!