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How to Use this Manual

How to Use This Manual

The first Discover Your Mad Skills Masterclass introduced a systematic approach to solving business cases. It focused on understanding the problem, analysing the situation, developing alternatives, making recommendations, and creating implementation plans.

The second manual shifted the focus to communication. It explored how to transform strong analysis into persuasive presentations through effective slide design, storytelling, confident speaking, and successful question-and-answer sessions.

This manual focuses on another critical part of case solving: Financial analysis.

Strong case solutions need more than a good strategy. They need to demonstrate that the recommendation makes financial sense, that the assumptions are reasonable, and that the organisation has the capacity to execute the proposed solution.

This manual is designed to help you develop that financial thinking.

It is not intended to turn you into an accountant or financial analyst. Nor is it simply an Excel instruction manual. Instead, it focuses on the financial skills that case competitors need to make better decisions and communicate those decisions with credibility.

Think of this manual as your Case Finance & Excel Mastery Toolkit.

Numbers Are Tools, Not Answers

One of the biggest mistakes teams make with financial analysis is assuming that more calculations automatically produce a stronger case. They don't. A spreadsheet can contain dozens of calculations and still fail to answer the most important question:

So what?

The purpose of financial analysis is not to produce impressive numbers. It is to use numbers to understand the situation, test assumptions, evaluate alternatives, and strengthen the recommendation. Throughout this manual, you will repeatedly encounter one central principle:

Numbers don't win cases. Numbers that strengthen a decision do.

  • A ratio is useful only if it helps you understand the organisation.
  • A budget is useful only if it helps determine whether an initiative is feasible.
  • An ROI calculation is useful only if it helps compare an investment.
  • An NPV calculation is useful only if it helps determine whether an investment creates value.
  • A sensitivity analysis is useful only if it helps you understand whether the recommendation remains viable when assumptions change.
  • Excel is useful only when it helps you perform these tasks more accurately, efficiently, and clearly.

Start With the Question

Financial analysis should begin with the business question, not the spreadsheet. Before calculating anything, ask:

  • What decision are we trying to make?

  • What financial question needs to be answered?

  • What information do we already have?

  • What assumptions are missing?

  • Which calculations will actually help us decide?

This prevents one of the most common case-solving mistakes: calculating because you can rather than because you need to. The goal is not to use every financial tool in this manual. The goal is to select the tools that help answer the specific questions raised by the case.

From Numbers to Insights

Throughout the manual, we will distinguish between numbers, analysis, and insight.

  • A number tells you what happened.
  • Analysis helps explain what the number means.
  • An insight explains why it matters to the decision.

For example:

  • Number: Revenue increased by 12%.
  • Analysis: Revenue has grown at an average annual rate of 10% over the past three years.
  • Insight: The company has demonstrated sustained demand growth, suggesting that the proposed expansion is building on an established trend rather than creating demand from scratch.

The third statement is the one that helps the decision-maker. This distinction is central to financial analysis in case competitions.

The Financial Story

The financial section of a case should not exist independently from the rest of the solution. It should support the strategic story. A strong financial analysis often follows a progression:

Understand → Compare → Estimate → Model → Evaluate → Test → Explain → Recommend

First, understand the organisation's current financial position. Then compare performance across time and against relevant benchmarks. Estimate when exact information is unavailable. Model the financial impact of the proposed solution. Evaluate investments and alternatives using appropriate financial measures. Test the assumptions through sensitivity and scenario analysis. Explain what the numbers mean. Then use those insights to strengthen the recommendation. This progression helps prevent the financial analysis from becoming a collection of disconnected calculations.

Use the Right Tool for the Question

Different financial tools answer different questions.

  • Ratio analysis can help answer: How financially healthy is the organisation?
  • Comparative analysis can help answer: How is the organisation performing relative to its history and competitors?
  • Market sizing can help answer: How large is the opportunity?
  • Budgeting can help answer: What will the recommendation cost?
  • Estimation can help answer: Is our assumption or calculation realistic?
  • ROI can help answer: What return does the investment generate relative to its cost?
  • NPV can help answer: Does the investment create value today?
  • IRR can help answer: What rate of return does the investment generate?
  • Valuation can help answer: What is the company, project, or opportunity worth?
  • Sensitivity and scenario analysis can help answer: How robust is the decision when our assumptions change?

The objective is not to master every calculation independently. The objective is to know when each tool is useful and what decision it can help you make.

Excel Is the Engine, Not the Destination

Excel plays an important role throughout this manual because it allows teams to calculate, model, test, and visualise financial information quickly. But the spreadsheet is not the final product. The judges rarely care how complicated your spreadsheet is. They care whether you understand what the spreadsheet is telling you.

  • A sophisticated model with poor assumptions is still a poor model.
  • A simple model built on sound assumptions can be extremely powerful.
  • As you work through the Excel components of this manual, continually ask:
  • What does this calculation tell us?
  • Why does it matter?
  • How does it affect our decision?

A Practical Approach to Each Chapter

Each chapter is designed to help you develop both the technical skill and the decision-making judgment behind it. As you work through a topic, consider four questions:

  • What question does this tool answer? Understand the business purpose before focusing on the formula.
  • When should I use it? Not every case requires every financial technique.
  • What insight should it produce? A calculation is only useful if it produces information that changes or strengthens your understanding.
  • How does it improve the recommendation? Ultimately, financial analysis should help you make a better decision.

Build the Skill in Layers

You do not need to master everything in this manual at once. A useful progression is:

  • Level 1 — Understand: Know what the financial tool does and what question it answers.
  • Level 2 — Calculate: Be able to perform the calculation accurately.
  • Level 3 — Interpret: Understand what the result means.
  • Level 4 — Apply: Use the result to evaluate a case decision.
  • Level 5 — Communicate: Explain the financial insight clearly to a decision-maker or judge.
  • Level 6 — Stress-Test: Understand how the conclusion changes when important assumptions change.

The goal is to move beyond simply knowing the formula. You want to reach the point where you can look at a financial problem in a case and quickly determine: What do I need to know, how can I calculate it, and what does it mean for our recommendation?

  • How to Use the Manual During Practice
    • There are several ways to use this manual.
  • Before a Competition
    • Use the chapters to build your financial toolkit.
    • Practice the calculations in Excel.
    • Create your own templates.
    • Work through the examples.
    • Most importantly, practice interpreting the results rather than simply calculating them.
  • During Case Practice
    • Do not automatically work through every chapter.
    • Instead, identify the financial questions raised by the case and select the appropriate tools.
    • Ask your team: What financial evidence would make our recommendation more credible? Then build the analysis required to answer that question.
  • During a Competition
    • Use the manual as a mental checklist.
    • You may not have time to build a sophisticated model.
    • You may need to estimate.
    • You may need to make assumptions.
    • You may need to simplify.
    • The objective is not financial perfection.
    • The objective is financial credibility.
    • A reasonable estimate with clearly stated assumptions is often more useful than a highly detailed calculation based on questionable assumptions.

Learn to Think Like the Decision-Maker

Throughout this manual, imagine that you are presenting your recommendation to a CEO, CFO, investor, or board of directors. They are unlikely to ask: "Did you calculate enough ratios?" They are more likely to ask:

  • "How much will this cost?"
  • "What will we get in return?"
  • "When will we see the impact?"
  • "What assumptions are driving your model?"
  • "What happens if those assumptions are wrong?"
  • "Why should we choose this option?"
  • "What happens if we do nothing?"

Those are the questions your financial analysis should help you answer.

Use the Manual Alongside the Masterclass

This manual is designed to work alongside the instructional Masterclass videos available on the Mad Skills Masterclass YouTube channel. The videos provide demonstrations, explanations, and practical examples that complement the material in the manual. For those in regions where YouTube is unavailable, the videos are also available through Innovatank TV.

The complete series of Deciphering Cases posts is also available through Discover Your Mad Skills on Patreon, providing additional insights, examples, and perspectives that can help you develop your case-solving and financial analysis skills.

  • Use the videos to see the tools demonstrated.
  • Use the manual to understand the concepts.
  • Use Excel to practise the calculations.
  • Then use cases to develop your judgment.

The Goal of This Manual

By the end of this manual, you should be able to look at the financial information in a case and move confidently from:

Numbers → Analysis → Insight → Decision

You should be able to build a financial analysis that is:

  • Accurate enough to be trusted

  • Relevant to the decision

  • Realistic in its assumptions

  • Robust under changing conditions

  • Clear enough for a judge to understand

  • Useful enough to strengthen the recommendation

The ultimate objective is not to become the person on the team who "does the finance." It is to become the person who can use financial information to help the entire team make a better decision.

  • Go beyond calculating the numbers.
  • Understand what they mean.
  • Use them to make better decisions.
  • Turn your numbers into insights.
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