What’s really going on at OpenAI?
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work” – Thomas Eddison If you have modelling or AI-related news, resources, or events that you’d like to share with 48,000+ of the world’s best modellers, please email cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. AI // What’s really going on at OpenAI? Sam Altman returned as OpenAI’s CEO after […]
East Africa’s AI-Powered Agricultural Revolution
“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” – Thomas Jefferson If you have modelling or AI-related news, resources, or events that you’d like to share with 48,000+ of the world’s best modellers, please email cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. AI // Transforming East Africa’s agriculture industry […]
The inevitable AI financial crash
“Blaming speculators as a response to financial crises goes back at least to the Greeks. It’s almost always the wrong response.” – Lawrence Summers If you have modelling or AI-related news, resources, or events that you’d like to share with 48,000+ of the world’s best modellers, please email cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. Finance // Is an AI-triggered financial […]
Can you trust the results of deep learning models?
“Marginlessness is the disease of the new millennium; margin is its cure.” – Richard Swenson If you have modelling or AI-related news, resources, or events that you’d like to share with 48,000+ of the world’s best modellers, please email cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. AI // The fragility of deep learning models The Bank of England conducted an analysis […]
Are financial services models minimising key risks?
“We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.” – Barack Obama If you have modelling or AI-related news, resources, or events that you’d like to share with 48,000+ of the world’s best modellers, please email cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. Climate // Financial services models […]
The Key to Success: Understanding the ‘Why’ of Financial Modelling Standards
“For engineers, designers and other creative problem-solvers, a formal definition of the constraints within which they must work is essential to channel energies and expand creativity.” – Adam Morgan Welcome to the new look Miscellany. If you have modelling-related news, resourcesor events that you’d like to share with 48,000 of the world’s best modellers, pleaseemail […]
LinkedIn’s AI Innovations: Transforming Recruiting and Beyond
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence” – Ginni Rometty Welcome to the new look Miscellany. If you have modelling-related news, resourcesor events that you’d like to share with 48,000 of the world’s best modellers, pleaseemail […]
Unlocking new possibilities – quantum computing and financial modelling
“Quantum technology turns ordinary reality upside down” – Michael Crichton Welcome to the new look Miscellany. If you have modelling-related news, resourcesor events that you’d like to share with 48,000 of the world’s best modellers, pleaseemail cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com Tech // How quantum computing could revolutionise financial modelling With all the recent focus on AI, you’d be […]
How Google taught Bard to doubt itself
“Knowledge is the antidote to fear” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Welcome to the new look Miscellany. If you have modelling-related news, resourcesor events that you’d like to share with 48,000 of the world’s best modellers, pleaseemail cassandra.brightley@gridlines.com. AI : How Google taught Bard to doubt itself AI chatbots do not draw on a database of […]
Building a robust and flexible financial model
Building a robust and flexible financial model is a critical task for businesses. Whether you’re trying to secure funding for your startup, track your company finances, or plan for your company’s future, having a solid model is essential.
5 Perspectives over 5 years at Gridlines
Paul Myers I’ve been working with Gridlines for just over two years. It has flown by. Let me tell you why. Gridlines is a small-but-growing business. We had a little fewer than 20 people when I got involved in late 2020; two years later about twice that many faces are on the weekly zoom calls. […]
What is a Merger Model?
A merger model represents the financial position arising on the combination of two companies. Companies can combine in a number of ways including a merger under a mutual agreement to form a consolidated entity or an acquisition. An M&A model is an advanced model used to evaluate the pro forma accretion/dilution of earnings per share […]
Killer Errors – Adding when you mean to subtract!
It still surprises me when we are completing a financial model audit, how often we encounter errors where rather than adding a number it is subtracted by mistake (or vice versa). Where you get a sign wrong, it’s especially bad news as it gives you twice the problem compared to missing it out completely. If […]
Killer Errors – Base Dates
Another group of killer errors that can cause big problems are base dates for indexation, discounting, and NPV calculations. This is one close to my heart as many years ago, believe it or not, I had included an incorrect base date in an NPV calc! Thankfully it came to light before the bid went in, […]
Killer Errors – Indexation
To help in our mission to save our friends and colleagues from the horrors of modelling errors, we plan to share a series of the most common errors we uncover in our role as model auditors. We hope this helps you dodge a bullet sometime soon. No 1. Indexation Some of the biggest errors we […]
An Update on the UK Mini-budget
The new UK Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, delivered a fiscal statement on October 17th 2022, in a bid to reassure the markets and bring a degree of financial stability after Kwasi Kwarteng, the then Chancellor’s Mini-budget of September 23rd 2022 caused a period of economic turmoil for the UK. The Medium-Term Fiscal Plan is still scheduled […]
Openbox | A matter of perspective
When we started building Openbox, we thought we were building a tool to create spreadsheet models. But as anyone who has started a business will tell you, customers and the market have a way of surprising you with what they really want! And one thing they want is help understanding what their model is doing. […]
The UK Mini-budget
The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, delivered his Mini-budget on 23 September 2022. The full suite of documents can be found here. The proposed tax measures of particular interest to companies involved in the project finance arena are discussed below. Corporation tax rate rise scrapped ‘The planned increase of the main corporation tax rate […]
What is a model audit?
What is a Model Audit? In simple terms, a model audit is a review of a financial model, generally completed by an independent third party to help minimise the risk of error. Model audits are typically (but not exclusively) undertaken in relation to financial models which have been developed to support large transactions, where a […]
What is a Three Statement Model?
A Three statement model is a basic setup for financial modelling. This type of model includes three different statements: Income statement Balance sheet Cash flow These are all linked with Excel formulas. The objective is to set it up so all the accounts are connected and a set of assumptions can drive changes in the […]
Ofwat builds its official price control model using Openbox
Earlier today, the UK water regulator Ofwat published its draft price control model for PR24. You can view the full model for yourself here, and the full consultation is also available here. Ofwat developed the model using the Openbox financial model build software. The Ofwat model deals with complex and important issues, and so it […]
Financial Model Build: The Joy of Specialisation
You can pick any industry these days and the chances are that there’s a lot of disruption happening right now. New technology, changing viewpoints & processes, and evolving economic factors are all playing a part. “When you take a look at the Fortune 1000 over the last 40 years, starting from 1973 you see that […]
Financial Modellers are Changing the World
Whilst staring at a financial model, it is really easy to get lost in the numbers. It’s all rows and columns of excel, abstracted from the real world. It’s just another Infrastructure project……..Or is it? It is worth taking a step back once in a while to reflect on what the numbers on the screen […]
Financial Modelling – Survival of the fittest
In Financial Modelling it is often the business with the best model that survives the future I was chatting to a new client the other day and I was taken aback by his passion and energy relating to financial modelling. He said something that really summed up what I have been trying to say in […]
UK Spring Statement 2022: What does it mean for tax?
The UK Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, delivered his Spring Statement today (23 March 2022). In terms of measures relating to companies involved in the project finance arena, one of the main items of note was the announcement of the government’s Tax Plan for the remainder of this parliament. Tax Plan At the Autumn Budget 2022, the […]
Those who can, audit
In the past, financial model audit has been treated as a training ground. Traditionally the brightest and best start in audit and move on quickly to the more ‘glamorous’ model build and advisory assignments. Leaving behind the less-motivated and less-talented to continue with the ‘mundane’ audit work. With respect, we believe that this approach is […]
Disrupting Financial Model Audit
I was speaking to a client the other day and was blown away by his enthusiasm for our new approach to Financial model audit with “model audit 2.0“. To paraphrase, he said ‘I love what you guys are doing. You are disrupting the model audit market. You are like the Tesla of model audit.’ Well, […]
Financial Model Audit: More than a box ticked
I have spent a large chunk of my career as a financial advisor, and that has often involved helping clients to select their model auditor. Often clients see the financial model audit as a necessary evil, a due diligence requirement from lenders, a box to be ticked. The audit is seen as an insurance policy […]
Financial Model Audit: What makes a good audit?
We are constantly striving to make our model audit service as good as it possibly can be. Here’s what we believe makes a great model audit experience: Finding the big errors This goes without saying, but the one thing that overshadows everything else is that you need to be confident that material errors will be […]
Financial Model Audit: The joy of finding an error (early)
As financial model auditors, nothing makes us happier than finding a big hairy error in a model. It shows we are doing our job and that we are earning our money! However, it is not lost on us that this will most likely cause problems for the team working with the model. In our experience, […]
