Hosted by
Carl Seidman CPA | Microsoft MVP
The person Fortune 500s use for their financial leadership development programs
Managing Data for Finance with Microsoft Power Query
4.7 (15 Ratings) · 3-Day · Cohort-based Course
- Save time and minimize rework by effortlessly connecting, cleaning, and reshaping data with a most powerful tool for Excel and Power BI.
Partial List of Current & Former Clients
Course Overview
Importing data into Excel + Power BI is easy when you know how to transform it.
In this intensive 2 half-day Power Query program, attendees will embark on a step-by-step journey through data management.
We’ll begin by introducing core concepts and a fundamental understanding of Power Query, a tool that enables seamless extraction and transformation of raw data from back-end systems to Excel or Power BI.
The first phase of the course emphasizes understanding the Power Query interface and learning how to connect various data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, and online services. Attendees will discover how to import data effectively, reducing the time spent on manual data entry.
The next phase focuses on data cleansing and manipulation. You’ll learn how to filter, sort, and aggregate data. You’ll discover the different ribbons designed for intuitive user-interface and how to apply these techniques to real-world financial application. This will include handling missing or erroneous data, which is often a challenging task in financial analysis.
The final phase delves into data modeling. Attendees will explore how to create custom calculations, both through a clear user-interface and by using Power Query’s formula language, M.
These skills are essential for constructing sophisticated financial models and data models, providing the foundation for accurate forecasting and strategic planning.
By the end of the training, participants will not only master Power Query’s functionality but also acquire a new perspective on data analysis. They’ll be equipped with the skills to automate complex data preparation tasks, freeing them to focus on insightful analysis and decision-making.
This transformative experience is tailored to financial professionals who seek to enhance their efficiency and analytical abilities.
Whether you’re a new financial analyst, s seasoned FP&A expert, or someone seeking to elevate data analysis capabilities, this course is a basic step towards a more data-driven and insightful future in your finance career.
Seidman Financial is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.NASBARegistry.org.
Seidman Financial is a division of Seidman Global LLC.
Who Is This Course For
What You’ll Get Out of This Course
-
More than just content and training. It's about real financial processes
» Review month-end close, adjusting entries, and recurring financial analysis
» Connect to various data sources and run queries to centralize disparate data channels. -
Introduction to Power Query
» Overview of Power Query and its role in data analysis for finance.
» Understanding how Power Query integrates with Excel and other Microsoft tools.
» Setting up Power Query and exploring the user interface. -
Data Import and Connections
» Connecting to various data sources like databases, Excel files, web data.
» Importing and refreshing data from different sources.
» Managing and transforming connections. -
Process flows to connect to back-end data and bring it into recurring financial analysis and reporting
» Import invoice data, accounts receivable aging, POs, and accounts payable to reconcile working capital
» Import monthly sales data to analyze routinely
» Import finance actuals for rolling forecasts. -
Data Transformation Techniques
» Cleaning and transforming data using Power Query Editor.
» Utilizing functions and expressions to modify data.
» Handling missing values, duplicates, and data types. -
Advanced Query Techniques
» Writing and customizing M and DAX queries.
» Building parameterized queries and reusing queries across workbooks.
» Developing complex calculations and aggregations. -
Integration with Financial Analysis
» Using Power Query to streamline financial forecasting and budgeting.
» Designing financial models and KPI dashboards.
» Analyzing trends and performing variance analysis. -
Best Practices and Troubleshooting
» Implementing best practices for performance optimization.
» Troubleshooting common issues and errors.
» Tips and tricks for efficient Power Query use in a financial context.
This Course Includes
- 2 interactive live sessions
- 33 In-depth lessons
- Projects to apply learnings
- Private community of peers
- Lifetime access to course materials
- Direct access to instructor
- Guided feedback & reflection
- Course certificate upon completion
Course Syllabus
Week 1: Dec 9—Dec 11
DEC
9
✨ Managing Data for Finance: Session 1 ✨
Mon 12/9 12:00 PM—3:30 PM (PST)
DEC
11
✨ Managing Data for Finance: Session 2 ✨
Wed 12/11 12:00 PM—3:30 PM (PST)
📄 What is Microsoft Power Query and Why Does it Matter to Finance
📄 Dynamic Data Modeling Process Flow
📄 How Power Query and Financial Systems Interact
📄 When to Use Power Query vs. Excel
📄 Data Acquisition Sources for Power Query
📄 Data Conversion Through Power Query
📄 Editing Power Query Parameters
📄 Power Query Editor – Intro to the Ribbons
📄 Power Query Editor – Home Ribbon
📄 Power Query Editor – Transform Ribbon
📄 Power Query Editor – Add Column Ribbon
📄 Data Connections via Power Query
📄 Introduction to Dynamic Tables
📄 Integration of Dynamic Tables with Power Query
📄 Financial and Business Modeling with Power Query and Data Tables
📄 Intro to Data Modeling with Power Query
📄 Data Modeling – Establishing Tabular Relationships
📄 Data Modeling – Establishing Data Hierarchies
📄 Data Modeling – Data Relationship Directions
📄 Data Modeling – Cascading Data Flows
📄 Data Modeling – Viewing and Hiding Tabular Relationships
📄 Data Modeling Rules
📄 Introduction to Power Pivot
📄 How Power Pivot Compares/Contrasts with Traditional Pivot Tables
📄 Activating and Accessing Power Pivot
📄 Creating a Power Pivot Report
📄 Introduction to Data Analysis Expressions (DAX)
📄 Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) – Syntax and Rules
📄 Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) – Syntax and Rules
📄 Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) – Calculated Columns
📄 Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) – Measures
📄 Overlap Between Power Excel and Power BI
📄 How Power Query Integrates with Power BI
What Students Are Saying
This course marked a turning point in my professional career. Indeed, while there are no shortcuts to success, choosing the right path is crucial—it doesn't necessarily have to be a lengthy one. The key is to keep practicing. I strongly recommend it.
Ana
Finance Director
My goal was to learn new skills that would help me automate data and improve the efficiency of modeling and I definitely did that. This class was a great mix of lecture and hands-on learning.
Sam
VP/Head of Finance and Accounting, C16 Biosciences, Inc.
Very informative and very practical course - opens a world of possibilities. Loved the hands on experience!
Darena
Senior Financial Analyst, Fresenius Kabi
Carl does a fantastic job presenting the course content in a way that is understandable but challenges participants to think outside their normal processes. There is a good mix of discussion and hands on learning. I would highly recommend those looking to learn more about managing data with Power Query to take this course.
Talia
CAS Supervisor, Miller Cooper
This was one of the best training programs I've experienced. Went indepth into many of the concepts in an actionable way. I came away from the course with the knowledge and confidence that I could tackle any challenge in Power Query that would come my way. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in learning Power Query.
Mark
Financial Analyst, Government of New Brunswick
Practice exercises were incredibly useful to understand the possibilities.
Finney
Director of Finance, Capstone Dentistry
"Carl's classes are hands-on, making them more palatable than other courses racing through materials."
-- Sandrine, Senior Controller, Instabug, Inc
Meet Carl, Your Instructor and Guide
Carl Seidman CPA | Microsoft MVP
Principal, Seidman Financial | Microsoft MVP
Carl serves as a Fractional CFO, FP&A advisor, and management consultant to entrepreneurial businesses throughout North America and Europe and assists them with strategic financial planning, value enhancement, and revitalization.
He is a Microsoft MVP and one of the preeminent trainers and facilitators in strategic finance and FP&A, with more than 13,000 participants attending his financial training programs, seminars, workshops, and masterminds. Notable clients include:
ABM Industries, Accordion, AlixPartners, Allscripts, Broadridge, CHEP, Choice Hotels, CIBC, Cigna, Cox Enterprises, Crawford & Company, Deloitte, Dexcom, Discover, Dominium, Express Scripts, EY, FS Investments, EVRAZ, Genentech, Healthpeak, Heartland Financial, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hostess, IGT, KPMG, Marsh & McLennan, Michelin, NerdWallet, Radisson, Rapid7, Sol Petroleum, Spotify, Triple-S, Telus, Santander, United Technologies (RTX), UBT, Verizon, Walmart, and Workday.
Carl is masterful at making the complex amazingly simple, engaging his audiences, building confidence, and facilitating a welcoming and transformative group experience. His content is rich and relatable, used in financial leadership development programs (FLDPs) at Fortune 500 companies, and is utilized or licensed by 7 of the top global financial training companies.
Carl serves as an Adjunct Professor in data analytics at the Jones School of Business at Rice University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) has earned other professional credentials including the CIRA, CFF, CFE, CGMA, AM (Accredited Member in Business Valuation), CSP (Certified Speaking Professional), Certified Anaplan Model Builder, and was a National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) 40 Under Forty honoree. He holds a BA in finance and economics and an MS in managerial accounting.
He’s been where you want to be and does the work you want to do.
"Everything was explained great and motivated me to incorporate power query to my every day job. Demos were explained thorough."
Daniel Flores
Forensic Technology Services Manager at BDO USA, LLP
"Feel fully empowered to use Power Query. Made things simple. Everyone in group should take."
John Thatcher
Managing Director at BDO USA
"This was one of the better training classes: interesting subject matter, informative, and engaging. I enjoyed the class immensely, and would highly recommend it."
James Mehlman
Forensic Technology Services Senior Associate, BDO USA
"It was very engaging. Carl did a wonderful job presenting and making us feel heard with concerns."
Dawn Harrison
Forensic Technology Services Manager at BDO USA, LLP
Join an upcoming cohort
Managing Data for Finance with Microsoft Power Query
COST
$397
UPCOMING
Cohort 4
DATES
Dec 9—11, 2024
PAYMENT DEADLINE
Dec 11, 2024
Students receive a certificate and 8.0 continuing professional education (CPE) credits for completing the course.
Seidman Financial is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA)
Frequently Asked Questions
You are strongly encouraged not to miss live sessions, as a great part of the experience is both the live-reveals and the participant interaction.
In other words, you get to:
- learn in real-time
- apply in real-time, and
- reflect in real time
Yes, sessions are recorded and you can go through them on your own, but learning may be more limited.
We meet for 2 half-days for 4 hours each session. It is intentionally spaced out over a number of days so you can work your schedule around it.
That’s 8 hours all in: content, discussion, reflection, cases, and Q&A.
There may be occasional pre-work and post-session work but it is minimal.
It is not customary for me to offer refunds. Across hundreds of training, seminars, workshops, and conferences — in person and virtual — to thousands of people, I have never been asked once for a refund.
For one in-person training program, there was a blizzard and my flight was canceled. I offered a rescheduling option for a future date.
I offer more than a dozen training programs and immersive development experiences across a wide range of finance and accounting topics.
This program is intentionally designed for finance professionals who want to advance their skills and understanding specifically in data extraction, formatting, positioning, and importing into Excel and Power BI.
We meet live on Zoom 2x per week.
Each session consists of half the modules of the course. Each module ties into prior and future modules, so it is vital to try to avoid missing classes.
The structure of the session begins with an intro, a tie-in to a real example, exercises, discussion, and reflections.
Prerequisites for the course include the following:
- You should have a basic-to-intermediate understanding of Microsoft Excel
- You should have a current version (2016 or later) of Microsoft Excel, ideally (though not necessary) on a PC.
- You should have at least an basic understanding of accounting and finance concepts.
No, but I will offer you my promises.
Everyone who attends this course will have different backgrounds, experience, and aspirations which means they have different business models or jobs.
My promise is to share with you my techniques, tools, and processes that will accelerate your finance career and make you far more confident in what you do.
Yes, it qualifies for 8.0 CPE credits.
Seidman Financial is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit.