For Corporate finance
Models that hold up when the deal is on the line
Audit M&A, capital allocation, and treasury models for broken logic, hidden externals, and formula inconsistencies before they reach a counterparty.
Your day with Formula Audit XL
M&A deal model: pre-send audit
Before the acquisition model goes to the board or to advisers, trace every output in the returns waterfall back to its inputs. Two cells reference a named range that no longer exists. You fix them before the model leaves the building.
Capital structure scenario analysis
You've built five debt scenarios. Run a consistency check to confirm the financing formulas are structured identically across scenarios. No scenario should have a hardcoded rate while others are formula-driven.
Reviewing the counterparty's updated model
The counterparty returns a marked-up version of the model. Run Model Check on their file to surface any errors, new hardcodes, or broken references introduced during their edits. Use Inconsistent Formulas to catch any cells where a formula was overwritten with a static value. You identify the logic changes in minutes rather than hunting through tabs manually.
Preparing for external review or audit
Internal audit or an external adviser is about to review the model. Run Cell Map first so every cell type is colour-coded, then use Explore Precedents on the key outputs to make the calculation chain explicit. Reviewers spend time on substance, not navigation.
Corporate finance models (acquisition valuations, capital structure analyses, treasury forecasts) are high-stakes and often built under time pressure. They move between teams, advisers, and counterparties, accumulating edits at each stage. A consistent audit process, run directly in Excel, closes the gap between a model that looks right and one you can stand behind.
“On an M&A transaction you cannot afford a model error discovered in due diligence. Having a systematic audit step before any model leaves the team has changed how we work.”
Stop eyeballing models. Start auditing them.
For Microsoft Excel on Windows: 2016, 2019, 2021 & 365 · No data leaves your machine