Financial Model Review
You have a model. Someone built it, possibly in a hurry, possibly two analysts ago. In a few weeks it goes to an investment committee, a lender or a buyer, and somebody who does this for a living will open it and start pulling on threads.
A model review finds what they will find, while you can still do something about it.
Free diagnostic first. Full review $2,000 to $5,000, findings in 3 to 6 business days.
Recognise Any of These
When people come to us
- ◆A funding round or refinancing is weeks away and nobody internally has independently checked the model
- ◆The model was inherited from a departed analyst and nobody fully understands it
- ◆Two versions are circulating that produce different numbers, and nobody knows which is right
- ◆An investor has come back with questions the team cannot answer from the model
- ◆The board has asked for comfort before approving a capital commitment
- ◆A model built for a $2m business is now being used to run a $30m one
- ◆You are buying a company and want the seller’s model checked before you rely on it
If you recognise more than one of those, the model is probably carrying errors you have not found.
The Four Layers
What we actually check
A model review is not a proofread. We work through four layers.
1. Structure and integrity
Does the balance sheet balance in every period, and every scenario? Are inputs, calculations and outputs separated, or are hardcoded numbers buried inside formulas? Are there circular references, and are they controlled or accidental? Are formulas consistent across every projection period, or has someone edited a single cell mid-row? That last one is the commonest silent error in financial modelling and the hardest to spot by eye.
2. Formula and calculation accuracy
We trace every material calculation chain. Off-by-one ranges. SUM ranges that miss the last row, or include the total. Sign errors that only appear when a value turns negative. Denominators that can go to zero. Lookups returning the wrong row on a sorted range. Tax, interest and working capital mechanics that behave at the base case and break under stress.
3. Assumptions and logic
This is where the real risk usually sits, and where a purely technical review adds no value. Are the growth assumptions defensible or aspirational? Does the working capital cycle reflect how the business is actually paid? Is the cost of capital derived, or borrowed from a template built for a different market? We are corporate finance practitioners, not spreadsheet auditors. We tell you when a number is arithmetically perfect and commercially indefensible.
4. Stress and scenario testing
We deliberately try to break the model. Push the key drivers to their extremes and see whether it produces a nonsense answer, an error, or a credible result. If your model cannot survive us, it will not survive due diligence.
Deliverables
What you receive
A findings report
Written in plain language, with every issue classified Critical (the model produces materially wrong numbers), Significant (arithmetically correct, but the logic or assumptions will not withstand challenge) or Advisory (structural and presentation issues that make the model harder to trust). Each finding names the cell or range, explains what is wrong, states the impact on the outputs, and sets out the fix.
A corrected model, if you want one
Many clients take the report and fix it internally. If you would rather we did it, remediation is quoted separately once we know the scope, and we work in your file so you keep your own structure rather than being handed something unfamiliar.
A walkthrough call
To go through the findings with whoever owns the model, so the fixes are understood rather than just applied.
Pricing and Timeline
What a review costs
| Fee | $2,000 to $5,000, fixed, agreed before we start |
|---|---|
| Timeline | 3 to 6 business days from receiving the file |
| Remediation | Quoted separately if you want us to implement the fixes |
Where a review sits in that range depends on model size, the number of entities and currencies, and whether the model is documented. A single-entity operating model with clean structure sits at the lower end. A multi-entity project finance model with a complex debt waterfall sits at the upper end. The fee is fixed before we start and does not change based on what we find.
No Charge
Free model diagnostic
Before you commit to anything, we will run an automated diagnostic on your model and send you the output at no charge. The diagnostic measures the file. It does not assess it. You get a factual profile of what your model contains:
- ◆Total formulas, and how many are genuinely unique
- ◆Formula errors present in the file: #REF!, #VALUE!, #DIV/0!, #NAME?, #N/A
- ◆Row consistency: where a formula changes partway along a projection row, the commonest silent error in modelling
- ◆Hardcoded numbers embedded inside formulas rather than referenced from an input cell
- ◆Circular references
- ◆External links to workbooks that may no longer exist
- ◆Volatile functions such as OFFSET and INDIRECT, which slow a model and complicate audit
- ◆Complexity profile: longest formula, maximum nesting depth, cross-sheet reference density
- ◆Structural profile: sheet count, used range, named ranges, unused names
What the diagnostic will not tell you is whether your model is right. That is deliberate, and it is the honest position. A model can pass every one of these measures and still produce a materially wrong answer because one assumption is indefensible or one range is off by a row. Nobody can form a view on a model’s integrity by looking at metrics, and anyone who offers to is selling you false comfort. What it does give you is an objective picture of the file you are relying on, and usually a clear sense of whether a full review is warranted.
The Engagement
How it works
Send us the model
Under NDA. We do not need your data room, just the file and a sentence on what it is for.
Free diagnostic
Usually returned within one working day, alongside a fixed-fee quote for the full review.
You decide
Whether to proceed. No obligation, and no charge for the diagnostic either way.
We review
Three to six business days, working through all four layers.
Findings report
Delivered with a walkthrough call for whoever owns the model.
Optional remediation
Quoted separately, implemented in your file so you keep your structure.
The Case For It
Why an independent review
The person who built your model cannot review it. Not because they are not good, but because reviewing your own work means finding errors in reasoning you have already accepted as correct. Every modelling standard in the industry treats independent review as a separate control for that reason.
The cost of a review is a rounding error against the cost of the alternative. A model that overstates cash by a working capital error, discovered by an investor in diligence, does not just get corrected. It costs you credibility at the exact moment credibility is priced into your valuation.
Common Questions
FAQ
Send us the model
Under NDA, no charge to look, fixed quote within a working day. If it does not need us, we will say so.