Brian Egger

Written by: Brian Egger My middle-school and high-school-age sons occasionally ask me for help with their math homework. I have limited recall of geometry, trigonometry and calculus, so I can’t offer much assistance with those subjects. But I do retain an intuitive grasp of basic algebra. I also appreciate the value algebra offers in solving real-life problems. I’ve told my sons that algebra was one of my most valuable secondary-school classes and still has relevance in my professional life.

Striking the right balance between depth of detail and high-level insight is a perennial challenge in finance. Painstaking complexity must sometimes give way to economy of analysis. The bigger financial models are, the more difficult they are to maintain. Spreadsheet-based models are illustrative tools that mirror, but do not replace, their creators’ mental models, and they need not be complex to work properly.

There are four key financial-modeling guidelines that I’ve emphasized in my role as Head of #FinancialModeling at Bloomberg Intelligence. My approach to modeling begins with replicating the level of detail provided in company disclosures, while also endeavoring to dig even deeper, as I construct drivers and formulas. I’ve also tried to balance bottom-up detail with top-down design simplicity and think about new ways to harness data as a source of modeling insight.