Technicals
The finance behind the finance.
Accounting, valuation, and modeling, taught the way the rest of this site teaches money: with the arithmetic on the page. Every worked number comes from one real company's filings, so the examples build on each other instead of resetting.
Before you start
This track is harder than the rest of the site. Not because the ideas are exotic, but because they stack: valuation only makes sense once the three statements do, and modeling only makes sense once valuation does. Read it in order and it works. Start at the DCF and you will memorize a formula instead of learning anything.
There are 26 lessons written, about 5 hours of reading if you do the arithmetic along the way, and you should. Another 10 are being written and are listed below so you can see where the gaps are.
The running example is Target Corporation, a retailer with clean accounts and no financial-services complications. Figures come from its Form 10-K for Fiscal 2025. Nothing here is investment advice, and none of it claims to prepare you for an interview at any particular firm.
01 / Accounting
7 lessons75 min
How the three statements work and how they connect. Everything after this depends on it, and most people skip it.
- 01The three statementsRead an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement and say what each one is for.11
- 02How the statements connectWalk any transaction through all three statements and prove the balance sheet still balances.14
- 03Accrual vs cashExplain why a profitable company can run out of money, with the entries that make it happen.9
- 04Working capitalCompute the cash conversion cycle and say why a retailer can grow without raising money.10
- 05Depreciation and capexTrace a capital purchase from the cash flow statement to earnings over its whole life.10
- 06Stock-based compensationArgue both sides of the add-back and show what dilution actually costs a shareholder.9
- 07Reading a 10-KFind the segment data, the real share count, and the numbers that only appear in the notes.12
Being writtenDeferred taxes, Goodwill and acquisitions.
02 / Valuation
8 lessons90 min
What a business is worth, by two routes: the cash it will produce, and what the market pays for similar ones.
- 01What a business is worthExplain the difference between enterprise value and equity value, and cross the bridge both ways.11
- 02Time value and discountingDiscount any stream of cash flows by hand and explain what the rate is doing.9
- 03Cost of capitalBuild a WACC from scratch: CAPM, a comp set's betas, unlever, relever, weight.13
- 04Free cash flowBuild FCFF from EBIT and say why interest is missing, then convert it to FCFE.11
- 05Building a DCFBuild a five-year DCF on real filed numbers and defend every assumption in it.15
- 06Terminal valueSay what fraction of a DCF is terminal value and spot a growth rate that is an error.11
- 07Trading compsBuild a comp set, compute the multiples, and show what a bad comp does to the median.12
- 08The football fieldPut every method on one chart and read where they disagree.8
Being writtenPrecedent transactions.
03 / Modeling
4 lessons47 min
The spreadsheet conventions nobody teaches, then the three models that get built for real.
- 01Excel for financeFormat a model the way the industry does and trap the errors before someone else finds them.10
- 02Debt schedules and circularityBuild a debt schedule and fix the circular reference two different ways.11
- 03LBO basicsBuild sources and uses, a paydown schedule, and a returns bridge that adds up.14
- 04Merger mathCompute accretion and dilution, find the breakeven synergy, and show where the P/E rule fails.12
Being writtenThe three-statement model, The revenue build, Reviewing a model.
04 / Markets
3 lessons31 min
The instruments underneath all of it: equity, debt, rates, and options.
- 01Equity and capital structureOrder every claim on a company and say what changes when leverage goes up.9
- 02Bonds and yieldsPrice a bond by hand, invert it to a yield, and estimate a price move from duration.12
- 03Derivatives basicsDraw any option payoff at expiry and say where the break-even sits.10
Being writtenRates and the curve, Market structure.
05 / Interview
4 lessons40 min
The questions are a filter for whether you did the work. Here is the work, and the follow-up they ask next.
- 01How technicals are actually testedKnow what the question is measuring, which is rarely the thing it appears to ask.9
- 02Accounting questionsAnswer the standard accounting questions and handle the follow-up that comes next.13
- 03Valuation questionsAnswer the standard valuation questions without having memorized anything.13
- 04The drillPractice until the answers are automatic, with the questions you keep missing coming back.5
Being writtenDCF walkthroughs, Brainteasers, and why they persist.
Coming from the money track
Start with the investing guide instead
If you are here to manage your own money rather than to read a 10-K, that guide is the better use of an afternoon.
Every term
The glossary
Any underlined term on this site opens a definition on hover. The full index is here, and it covers both tracks.