14 practitioner guides by Julian R. Sterling, best read first at the top. Each one is built on a single worked case, and every figure it prints is a live formula in a free workbook.
The quickest way into corporate finance, valuation and markets is Asset Management, the most read title in this list. The others go deeper into one job or one asset each. Every book below has a free companion page with the workbooks, so the arithmetic can be checked before the book is bought.
A Practitioner's Guide to Mandates, Performance, and What the Client Actually Earned
The four workbooks behind Asset Management: the four returns on one set of inputs, time-weighted against money-weighted with the flows editable, Brinson attribution that reconciles, and the fee schedule against a passive counterfactual.
Worked example: Why is our money-weighted return lower than the manager's time-weighted return?
Worked example: How do you calculate Brinson allocation and selection effects?
Worked example: How do you calculate tracking error and the information ratio?
Worked example: How do you calculate the Sharpe ratio of a fund?
Worked example: How do you calculate a Modified Dietz return?
Worked example: How do you calculate a fund's alpha and beta (Jensen's alpha)?
Worked example: How do you calculate the Sortino ratio of a fund?
Worked example: How do you calculate a tiered management fee with breakpoints?
Worked example: How do you calculate active share of a fund?
Worked example: How do you calculate upside and downside capture ratios?
Worked example: How do you calculate the Treynor ratio of a fund?
Worked example: How do you calculate time-weighted return with cash flows?
Worked example: How much does it cost to replace an investment manager?
Worked example: How do you calculate rolling 3-year returns for a fund?
Worked example: Geometric vs arithmetic excess return: how do you calculate each?
Worked example: How do you calculate a blended benchmark return?
Worked example: How do you calculate portfolio turnover ratio?
Worked example: How much alpha does an active fund need to beat an index fund?
Worked example: How do you calculate M-squared (Modigliani risk-adjusted return)?
Worked example: How do you calculate a fund's batting average against its benchmark?
Worked example: How does a fulcrum performance fee work? A worked example
A Practitioner's Guide to Three Values for One Company, and the Arithmetic of the Gap
The four workbooks behind Business Valuation: the three methods on one set of inputs, the discounted cash flow line by line, the control premium converted into the synergies it demands, and the reverse solve for the growth a price assumes.
Worked example: Why do a DCF and a transaction multiple disagree by 26.8 per cent?
Worked example: What percentage of a DCF should the terminal value be?
Worked example: How much does the mid-year convention add to a DCF?
Worked example: How do you calculate WACC? A step-by-step worked example
Worked example: How do you calculate unlevered free cash flow for a DCF?
Worked example: How do you calculate a control premium, and what must it earn?
Worked example: How does the capitalization of earnings method value a business?
Worked example: How do you apply the treasury stock method to a DCF value per share?
Worked example: How do you calculate a discount for lack of control (DLOC)?
Worked example: How do you calculate LTM EBITDA from quarterly figures?
Worked example: How does the excess earnings method value a business and its goodwill?
Worked example: How do you calculate terminal value with the value driver formula?
Worked example: Mean or median multiple in a comparable company analysis?
Worked example: How do you build a DCF sensitivity table for WACC and growth?
Worked example: How do you value equity with free cash flow to equity (FCFE)?
Worked example: How do you do a sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) valuation?
Worked example: How do you handle a stub period in a DCF valuation?
Worked example: How do you value NOLs (tax loss carryforwards) in a valuation?
Worked example: How do you weight DCF, trading and transaction values into one?
Worked example: How do you calendarise EBITDA for a comparable company analysis?
Value It, Finance It with an SBA Loan and Seller Notes, and Close Without Overpaying
The two workbooks behind Buying a Small Business: the add-back bridge, sources and uses with the SBA valuation cap and guaranty fee solved in closed form, ten years of cash coverage, and a deal priced for the day its largest customer leaves.
Worked example: What is a seller-financed purchase price actually worth in cash?
Worked example: How do you convert SDE to EBITDA when buying a small business?
Worked example: What purchase price does a 1.25x DSCR support on an SBA loan?
Worked example: How do you value a small business on a multiple of SDE?
Worked example: How much cash do you need to buy a business with an SBA loan?
Worked example: How much does customer concentration reduce a small business's value?
Worked example: What return on investment does buying a small business earn?
Worked example: How should you allocate the price in a small business asset sale?
Worked example: What is the monthly payment on an SBA loan to buy a business?
Worked example: How long does it take to pay back the price of a small business?
Worked example: Is inventory included in the purchase price of a small business?
Worked example: How do you weight three years of SDE to value a small business?
Worked example: Is a quality of earnings report worth it for a small business?
Worked example: Are accounts receivable included when you buy a small business?
Worked example: How much can you pay yourself after an SBA business acquisition?
Worked example: Should you buy the building when you buy a small business?
Worked example: How far can revenue fall before you can't pay your SBA loan?
Worked example: How much should you discount an owner-dependent business?
Worked example: ROBS vs cashing out a 401(k) to buy a business: what does each cost?
Worked example: How do SBA lenders calculate global cash flow and global DSCR?
What It Costs to Raise Money, and Who Decides the Number
The four workbooks behind Capital Markets: the interpolation that decides a concession, the cost of a bond issue under each convention, the placement discount and the leak computed at a constant discount, and the register of every choice with its value in euros.
Worked example: How much of an accelerated placement's cost never appears on an invoice?
Worked example: How do you calculate a new issue concession on a bond?
Worked example: How do you calculate the all-in cost of a bond issue?
Worked example: How are a new bond's coupon and reoffer price calculated?
Worked example: How do you compare euro and dollar bond funding costs?
Worked example: How is a placing discount calculated: last close or VWAP?
Worked example: How do you calculate the DV01 of a bond, and what is 1 bp worth?
Worked example: How much does a discounted share placing dilute shareholders?
Worked example: How do you calculate TERP in a rights issue?
Worked example: How is a make-whole call price calculated on a bond?
Worked example: How do you calculate accrued interest on a bond?
Worked example: G-spread vs I-spread: how do you calculate each on a bond?
Worked example: How do you calculate the Z-spread of a bond?
Worked example: How does a greenshoe option work in a share offering?
Worked example: How do you calculate the greenium on a green bond?
Worked example: How do you calculate the true cost of an IPO, underpricing included?
Worked example: How do you calculate a convertible bond's conversion premium?
Worked example: Is buying back bonds below par worth it for the issuer?
Worked example: How is a bond tap priced, and what does the issuer receive?
Worked example: How is an IPO gross spread split among the underwriters?
Five free Excel workbooks: two defensible equity bridges 20.70 million apart, a peg worth 7.00 million, and the six choices that remove half an earn-out.
Worked example: How much of an earn-out can the buyer's accounting adjustments remove?
Worked example: How do you calculate a locked box ticker?
Worked example: How do you calculate a net working capital peg?
Worked example: How is a completion accounts price adjustment calculated?
Worked example: Locked box vs completion accounts: which pays the seller more?
Worked example: How is leakage calculated in a locked box deal?
Worked example: Earn-out cliff vs straight line: what is each worth to the seller?
Worked example: How much do disputed debt-like items move the price in M&A?
Worked example: Escrow vs W&I insurance: which costs the seller less?
Worked example: How much cash does a seller actually receive at completion?
Worked example: How does a working capital collar work in an M&A deal?
Worked example: How much cash stays in a cash-free debt-free deal?
Worked example: How is rollover equity calculated when selling to private equity?
Worked example: How much does a deal-contingent FX hedge cost in an acquisition?
Worked example: How does an earn-out catch-up clause work?
Worked example: How do you size an earn-out to bridge a valuation gap?
Worked example: Is deferred revenue a debt-like item in M&A?
Worked example: How is a pension deficit deducted from the price in M&A?
Worked example: One-way vs two-way working capital adjustment: what is it worth?
Worked example: Who gets the tax benefit of transaction costs in an M&A deal?
A Practitioner's Guide to What a Hedge Costs, What It Saves, and What It Does to Your Cash
The four workbooks behind Derivatives: the covered-interest identity that closes to eight decimal places, the rolling programme against the locked one, the collar re-fixed year by year, and the collateral ledger where two date conventions give opposite answers.
Worked example: How much more margin does a five-year hedge call than a rolling one?
Worked example: Is a zero-cost collar really zero cost?
Worked example: How do you calculate CVA on an interest rate swap?
Worked example: How do you calculate an FX forward rate?
Worked example: How do you value an interest rate swap after rates move?
Worked example: How do you test hedge effectiveness with the dollar offset method?
Worked example: How do you price an interest rate cap with Black's model?
Worked example: How do you calculate the optimal hedge ratio for a futures hedge?
Worked example: How do you calculate the settlement amount on an FRA?
Worked example: How do you calculate the DV01 of an interest rate swap?
Worked example: How do you price an FX option? Garman-Kohlhagen worked example
Worked example: How is the fixed rate on an interest rate swap calculated?
Worked example: How do you price a swaption with Black's model?
Worked example: How do you calculate a futures price with the cost of carry?
Worked example: How do you value an FX forward contract after spot moves?
Worked example: How do you value a cross-currency swap? A worked example
Worked example: How does a participating forward work? An FX hedge worked example
Worked example: How do you calculate a forward-starting swap rate?
Worked example: How is a non-deliverable forward (NDF) settled? A worked example
Worked example: How is the fixed price on a commodity swap calculated?
A Practitioner's Guide to the Quarter That Beat Its Budget, Missed Its Plan, and Earned Less Money
The four workbooks behind Financial Planning and Analysis: the same quarter against five comparators, the price-volume-mix bridge and the margin split into mix and price, segment contribution with the corporate pool allocated two ways, and forecast bias measured against its own noise.
Worked example: When does a commission plan reward a discount that loses money?
Worked example: How should corporate overhead be allocated to business segments?
Worked example: How do you calculate forecast bias and MAPE?
Worked example: How do you calculate a flexible budget variance?
Worked example: How do you calculate a full-year forecast from YTD actuals?
Worked example: How do you calculate the fully loaded cost of an employee?
Worked example: How do you calculate break-even revenue and the margin of safety?
Worked example: How do you calculate variance percentage with a negative budget?
Worked example: How do you phase an annual budget by month for seasonality?
Worked example: How do you budget the cost of new hires that start mid-year?
Worked example: How do you calculate constant currency revenue growth?
Worked example: How do you split a payroll variance into headcount and rate?
Worked example: How do you calculate flow-through (incremental margin) in FP&A?
Worked example: How do you split fixed and variable costs with the high-low method?
Worked example: How do you split a gross margin change into mix and rate?
Worked example: How do you build a driver-based revenue forecast?
Worked example: How do you calculate a vacancy factor in a payroll budget?
Worked example: How do you forecast revenue from a weighted sales pipeline?
Worked example: How do you calculate DSO with the countback method?
Worked example: How do you forecast depreciation on new capex in a budget?
A Practitioner's Guide to Measuring What Actually Breaks a Fund
The four workbooks behind Financial Risk Management: value at risk and the backtest, the stress book and its reverse, the liquidation engine with two selling policies, and the transfer to the investors who stay.
Worked example: How much of a credit fund's diversification benefit survives a crisis?
Worked example: How do you scale a one-day VaR to ten days?
Worked example: How many VaR exceptions put a model in the red zone?
Worked example: How do you calculate expected shortfall (CVaR)?
Worked example: How do you calculate component VaR for each part of a portfolio?
Worked example: How do you calculate a credit spread stress loss with spread duration?
Worked example: How do you calculate parametric VaR for a portfolio?
Worked example: How do you calculate days to liquidate a fund's portfolio?
Worked example: How do you calculate historical VaR from 500 days of returns?
Worked example: How do you calculate the maximum drawdown of a fund?
Worked example: How do you calculate EWMA volatility with a lambda of 0.94?
Worked example: How do you calculate liquidity-adjusted VaR (LVaR)?
Worked example: How do you calculate Monte Carlo VaR for a portfolio?
Worked example: How do you calculate modified VaR with the Cornish-Fisher expansion?
Worked example: How do you run the Christoffersen test on VaR exceptions?
Worked example: How do you calculate a repo margin call when the haircut rises?
Worked example: How do you calculate potential future exposure (PFE) on an FX forward?
Worked example: How do you calculate risk parity weights for a portfolio?
Worked example: How do you calculate delta-gamma VaR for an options position?
Worked example: How do you estimate market impact cost with the square-root law?
A Practitioner's Guide to Building, Validating and Defending a Credit Model That Decides
The four workbooks behind Machine Learning for Finance: the scorecard built from counts, discrimination against calibration, population stability and the applicants the model never saw, and the cut-off priced in two different years.
Worked example: What does leaving a credit score cut-off unchanged actually cost?
Worked example: How do you calculate scorecard points from PDO, factor and offset?
Worked example: How do you calculate the population stability index (PSI)?
Worked example: How do you calculate Gini and KS for a credit scorecard?
Worked example: How do you calculate weight of evidence and information value?
Worked example: How do you recalibrate a PD model to a new default rate?
Worked example: How do you calculate precision, recall and F1 for a default model?
Worked example: How do you run a Hosmer-Lemeshow test on a PD model?
Worked example: How do you test whether a drop in AUC is statistically significant?
Worked example: How does reject inference by parcelling work? A worked example
Worked example: How do you calculate PD from a logistic regression model?
Worked example: How do you calculate the Brier score for a PD model?
Worked example: How do you calculate log loss for a PD model?
Worked example: How do you backtest PDs by rating grade with a binomial test?
Worked example: How do you calculate lift and cumulative gains for a credit model?
Worked example: XGBoost vs logistic regression for credit scoring: which earns more?
Worked example: How do you calculate SHAP values for a logistic regression PD model?
Worked example: How do you calculate VIF for credit scorecard variables?
Worked example: How do you convert a 12-month PD into a lifetime PD?
Worked example: How many defaults do you need to build a credit scorecard?
A Practitioner's Guide to the Seven Prices of One Deal, and Which of Them Is True
The four workbooks behind Mergers and Acquisitions: the seven prices of one deal and the three that are the same number, the combined accounts under all four accretion conventions, the value bridge against the board's version, and the margin ladder that admits no solution at all.
Worked example: Do uncapitalised leases count as debt in a leverage covenant?
Worked example: How do you value synergies net of the cost to achieve them?
Worked example: How do you calculate EPS accretion or dilution in an acquisition?
Worked example: How do you calculate goodwill in an acquisition?
Worked example: How do you calculate the fair value of an earn-out?
Worked example: How do you calculate the exchange ratio in a stock merger?
Worked example: How do you calculate the ROIC of an acquisition?
Worked example: How much synergy does an acquisition need to avoid EPS dilution?
Worked example: How do you do a contribution analysis in a merger?
Worked example: How much is a tax step-up worth in an asset purchase?
Worked example: How do you calculate a merger arbitrage spread?
Worked example: How do you calculate the EV/EBITDA multiple paid in an acquisition?
Worked example: How do you calculate an M&A advisory fee with the Lehman formula?
Worked example: How do you calculate a merger break fee, and what does it deter?
Worked example: How do you value a cash-and-stock offer per target share?
Worked example: Cash or stock: which should an acquirer pay with?
Worked example: How do you calculate non-controlling interest in an acquisition?
Worked example: How do you calculate stranded costs in a carve-out?
Worked example: How do you value deferred consideration in an acquisition?
Worked example: How do you value customer relationships with the MEEM?
A Practitioner's Guide to Pricing, Hedging, and Where the Money Actually Comes From
The four workbooks behind Quantitative Finance: the closed form and the lattice with convergence live, all five Greeks with a finite-difference check, what eight points of volatility are worth, and the delta hedge laid out step by step.
Worked example: Does hedging monthly instead of daily lose money?
Worked example: How do you calculate implied volatility with Newton's method?
Worked example: How do you calculate the gamma-theta break-even move?
Worked example: How do you calculate a Black-Scholes option price by hand?
Worked example: How do you price an option with a binomial tree? Worked example
Worked example: How many Monte Carlo paths do you need to price an option?
Worked example: How do you calculate historical volatility from daily prices?
Worked example: How do you calculate option delta and the shares to hedge?
Worked example: How do you use put-call parity? A worked example
Worked example: How do you calculate vega, and what is one vol point worth?
Worked example: How do you calculate the expected move from implied volatility?
Worked example: What is the probability an option expires in the money?
Worked example: How do you calculate option theta per day?
Worked example: How do you explain an option's P&L with delta, gamma, vega and theta?
Worked example: How do you calculate option gamma, and what is dollar gamma?
Worked example: How do you calculate a 25-delta risk reversal and butterfly?
Worked example: How do you hedge a digital option with a call spread?
Worked example: How do you price a down-and-out barrier call option?
Worked example: How do you calculate a variance swap payoff from vega notional?
Worked example: How do you adjust Black-Scholes for a discrete dividend?
A Practitioner's Guide to One Company, Five Cash Balances, and the Liquidity That Disappears the Day It Is Needed
The five workbooks behind Treasury Management, every printed figure a live formula with a check: the five readings of cash, the liquidity test and the drawstop, working capital and the discount, the swap and the currency hedge, banks and the one-page report. With a blank set, working documents, forty questions and three cases.
Worked example: Did my currency hedge fail if it lost money?
Worked example: Does an undrawn revolver count as liquidity?
Worked example: Notional vs physical cash pooling: how much interest do they save?
Worked example: How do you calculate days cash on hand?
Worked example: Is it worth repatriating trapped cash after withholding tax?
Worked example: How do you build a 13-week cash flow forecast?
Worked example: How much does multilateral netting save on intercompany payments?
Worked example: How do you calculate cash flow at risk (CFaR)?
Worked example: How much negative carry does pre-funding a bond maturity cost?
Worked example: Earnings credit rate vs interest: what is an ECR really worth?
Worked example: Commercial paper vs revolver: which is cheaper short-term funding?
Worked example: How does a layered FX hedging programme work? A worked example
Worked example: Is a lockbox worth it? Valuing the collection float it saves
The four workbooks behind Financial Modeling from First Principles: the complete Alder Ridge model (three statements, revolver, cash sweep, DCF, LBO, 14 checks in three scenarios), a blank build of 693 practice cells, an error lab with eight switchable defects, and a timed ninety-minute test with its answer key.
Worked example: Is exiting below the entry multiple a conservative assumption?
Coming soon on Amazon · Free companion files
The companion files of The Equity Research Analyst: the coverage model that reproduces every figure in the book, blank coverage templates, and a timed recruiting test with its answer key.
Coming soon on Amazon · Free companion files
Start with Asset Management by Julian R. Sterling. It is the most read title in this list, and like the others it is built on one fully specified worked case whose every printed figure is reproduced in a free Excel workbook.
Yes. Every title in this guide has a free companion page on julianrsterling.com with the workbooks, blank templates and checklists. They need no account and no email address.
Analysts, associates and managers who need to compute the numbers rather than describe them: each book follows one case from the first input to the decision, at practitioner level.
Real estate investing, finance and fund management · Private equity and private markets · Credit, private credit and distressed debt · Infrastructure, data centres and energy · Regulation, compliance and banking · Business operations: cost, contracts, pricing and supply chain · Personal finance and investing for beginners