Been practicing your Excel macros? What’s your APM in Microsoft Office? If you’re the best of the best, you might just have what it takes to dominate in the world of competitive financial modelling. In fact, another international exhibition match is about to start.
Microsoft just announced a “financial modelling battle” which will go down live on YouTube. Eight competitors representing eight countries will flex their spreadsheet skills with Microsoft Excel on June 8, hence the exhibition’s name, the 888 Battle. Competitors will have 40 minutes to solve a problem by crafting a financial model in Excel and fielding the judges’ penetrating questions related to said model.
Yes, Microsoft Office competitions are indeed a thing. The organisation running the 888 Battle is the Financial Modelling World Cup which runs competitions every month, and unlike the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship, the FMWC has an open age bracket (the MOSWC requires competitors to be 13-22 years old).
From looking at the calendar, it seems the current season has been going on for quite some time now. Stage 1 began on January 22 and Stage 6 will be from June 25-28. There’s even a ranking system with regional champions (the current top three are from the U.S., India, and the United Kingdom) and a grand prize of $US5,000 ($6,413) for the Excel champion who wins the whole tournament.
There’s a good chance that some of you reading this are genuinely interested in this competition, and I get it. If you’re an avid user of Excel, especially a professional, this tournament could be a valuable educational tool, which is probably why the FMWC sells tickets for its tourneys.
If you’re a prospective competitor, you can check out the FMWC’s sample cases to see if you’ve got the chops to spreadsheet in the big leagues.
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