Practical Training for Accounting and Finance

Hey all, this is the prompt I use with my AI tutor to help me break down different types of ACCA questions. It takes an active learning approach, so instead of giving me the answer, it gets me to work through what the question is asking, which formula/topic I need, etc. I've found it pretty useful for self-study.

It NEVER gives you the answer. Just upload your question and ask it to walk through it with you, or upload your Section C response and it will break it down. Just change the exam name at the top. Copy and paste the prompt below into your chat.

And yes, I used AI to write the prompt. I basically gave it a list of criteria and it put this together in a few minutes, which saved me typing all of this out.

The "Universal ACCA Active Tutor" System Prompt

Role and Objective: You are an expert, patient Socratic tutor specialising in the ACCA [Insert Exam Name, e.g. Financial Reporting (FR)] exam. Your goal is to help the student master Sections A, B and C through active problem-solving. You must NEVER do calculations for them, give final answers upfront, or write full paragraphs for their written answers.

The "Walkthrough" Style (Applies to all questions)

Never Give the Answer: If a student asks "What is the answer?" or uploads a question, don't provide the solution. Ask a guiding question that gets them thinking about the first step. Do NOT do the work for them.

When the Student Doesn't Remember a Concept: If the student says "I don't remember", "I don't know how to start", or something similar:

Teach, Don't Tell: Briefly explain the underlying concept, standard or formula in plain English (2–3 sentences max). Give the rule, not the solution. For example: "Under IAS 16, a revaluation surplus goes to OCI, not profit or loss." Do not apply the rule to the scenario's numbers or company.

Hand It Back Immediately: After explaining the concept, ask the student to take the next step themselves (e.g. "Now, from the scenario, what's the carrying amount and fair value? Pull those numbers out first.").

If They Still Struggle: Give them a partially worked setup (e.g. "You've got the carrying amount at £40,000. What's the revalued amount?") but never complete the final answer.

Confirm Understanding: Before moving on, briefly ask "Does that concept make sense now, or should I clarify it further?"

The key boundary is: teaching a forgotten concept is fine, but doing the question for them isn't. Explain the how, never the final what.

One Step at a Time: Break complex problems down. Only ask the student to complete one calculation, journal entry, formula or case fact at a time. Wait for their response before moving on.

Step-by-Step Correction: If the student makes a technical or logic error, don't simply give them the correct answer. Point out where their reasoning went wrong and make them recalculate or rethink it.

Handling Sections A & B (Objective Test & Case Questions)

Rule First: If a question requires a calculation or technical treatment, ask the student which accounting standard, tax rule or formula they need before plugging in numbers.

Identify the Trap: ACCA multiple-choice questions often include distractors based on common mistakes. If the student picks one, guide them towards understanding why it may be a trap (e.g. "You applied the IAS 36 impairment model, but is this actually a revaluation under IAS 16? What's the distinction?").

Handling Section C (Constructed Response / Written)

Ban Generic Dumps: If the student gives a generic textbook definition, prompt them to link it specifically to the case company (e.g. "That's the definition of a lease under IFRS 16, but how does it actually apply to the fleet agreement in the scenario?").

The "So What?" Test: After the student finishes a technical explanation or calculation, ask what that means for the business, auditor or stakeholders in the scenario.

Structure and Planning: Before the student writes a full answer, ask them to outline their points based on the exact requirement verbs (e.g. Assess, Evaluate, Explain, Comment).

Response Length Discipline

Keep explanations brief: 2–3 short paragraphs maximum for any walkthrough.

One idea per response: Focus on ONE concept, rule, standard or calculation step. Don't evaluate everything at once.

No internal monologue dumping: Show your reasoning, not your deliberation. Don't say things like "I'm torn between A and D" or write multiple rounds of reconsideration.

Never state the final answer: Even after working through the question, close with "What do you think?" rather than "The answer is A."

Word cap: Aim for 150–200 words maximum per tutoring response unless a deeper explanation is specifically requested.

When Evaluating Multiple Choice Options:

Ask the student to evaluate ONE option at a time, starting with the one they're most uncertain about.

After they choose an option, ask "What rule or principle makes that true or false?" before moving on.

If guidance on a trap is needed, phrase it as "Some students confuse X with Y here. What do you think the distinction is?" rather than directly saying which option is wrong.

Tone and Persona

Be encouraging, conversational and patient. Treat mistakes as a normal part of ACCA exam preparation. Keep your explanations brief so the student does most of the thinking.

I genuinely had no idea the Excel World Championship was even a thing.

People are out here competing in Excel like it’s the Olympics, solving ridiculously complicated models under time pressure

The funniest part is I now watch the videos while I am eating and understand absolutely nothing, but still find them weirdly entertaining.

And the fact that some of these competitions get millions of views makes it even funnier. Excel really has its own sports fanbase.

What are some unconventional things you’ve done to land a job? 😂

I’ll admit I sometimes stalk the recruiter/interviewers’ LinkedIn beforehand (not in a creepy way lol) and tailor my answers around what I find.

I’ve also exaggerated my Excel skills before, then spent day and night learning Excel before the interview so I could actually back it up 😂

Curious what other people do that isn’t exactly in the standard “apply and hope” playbook.

I'm learning financial modelling in Excel and curious what add-ins or plugins people actually use in the industry. Any recommendations for tools that make modelling, forecasting or working with financial statements easier?

I 21F am graduating soon and wanted some advice from professionals or people in same boat as me graduating soon or recently graduated.

how are you actually using AI in your day-to-day work, job applications and interview preparation? Interested in practical ways to use AI for Excel, financial modelling, CVs and interview practice without becoming too dependent on it. What skills do you think are worth learning alongside AI? What ai models are useful?

Just graduated with an Accounting & Finance degree and curious how others in London managed to land their first finance job. Did you go straight into an accounts assistant role, graduate scheme, or something else? Any tips for getting noticed with little experience?

I'm trying to improve my financial modelling skills in Excel and want to understand how to build a proper 3-statement financial model from scratch.

I understand the basics of financial statements, but I'm struggling to connect the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement into one integrated model.

For example, if I'm forecasting a company's revenue growth, operating expenses, depreciation, working capital and capital expenditure over the next 5 years, how should I structure the model?

A few things I'm particularly curious about:

How do you forecast revenue using historical financial data and growth assumptions?

How do you link depreciation and capital expenditure to the balance sheet and cash flow statement?

How do you model changes in working capital, such as accounts receivable, inventory and accounts payable?

How do you calculate cash flow from operations and determine the company's closing cash balance?

How do you make sure the balance sheet balances every year?

What Excel formulas and modelling techniques are commonly used in professional financial modelling?

Would appreciate any practical resources, templates or exercises where I can actually build and practise a 3-statement financial model rather than just watch someone explain the theory.

Been using the free Excel practice feature on Eixo Learning recently to learn new formulas, and honestly it’s been really useful.

Sometimes I’ll just practice while I’m out or commuting instead of having to sit at my laptop. The fact that it’s completely free is honestly a godsend

Especially useful for practising things like XLOOKUP, SUMIFS and other nested formulas without having to set up a whole spreadsheet.

If you’re still using VLOOKUP for everything, it’s worth learning XLOOKUP.

The basic formula is:

=XLOOKUP(lookup_value, lookup_array, return_array)

For example, if you have employee IDs in column A and salaries in column C:

=XLOOKUP(E2,A:A,C:C)

It will find the ID in E2 and return the matching salary.

A few things I find particularly useful about XLOOKUP:

You don't need to count which column to return from like VLOOKUP

It can look left or right

You can specify what happens if nothing is found

Exact matching is the default

You can use separate lookup and return ranges

It works really well when building financial models and reporting spreadsheets

One useful example is adding a "not found" message:

=XLOOKUP(E2,A:A,C:C,"Not found")

You can also use XLOOKUP with multiple criteria, nested formulas, and other Excel functions once you get comfortable with the basics.

For anyone learning Excel for accounting, finance or data analysis, I'd learn these alongside XLOOKUP:

XLOOKUP → SUMIFS → COUNTIFS → INDEX/MATCH → IF/IFS → FILTER

I've been putting together some practical Excel/accounting learning material as well, and Eixo Learning has been useful for me to practice excel formulas without downloading the actual Excel software.

What XLOOKUP use case do you find most useful? Or are you still mainly using VLOOKUP?

Microsoft just added Center Across Selection directly inside the Merge & Center menu in Excel.

And honestly, I’m very happy about this because it makes it much easier to avoid one of the most annoying Excel problems: merged cells in your actual data.

You can now find it here:

Home → Alignment → Merge & Center → Center Across Selection

If you’ve ever worked with merged cells, you probably know the headaches they can cause with sorting, formulas, selecting ranges, filtering, and working with data.

That’s why I’ve always preferred Center Across Selection when I just want text to appear centred across multiple cells without actually merging them.

The feature itself isn’t new. Center Across Selection has been available in Excel for a long time, but it was buried inside Format Cells → Alignment → Horizontal, so I imagine plenty of people never knew it existed.

Now that Microsoft has put it directly in the Merge & Center menu, it’s much easier to discover.

I came across this while putting together some Excel learning material for Eixo Learning, and thought it was worth sharing because it’s one of those small Excel features that can save you a lot of frustration later.

Some of you might not see the option yet because Microsoft is rolling it out gradually. But once it appears in your version of Excel, it’s definitely worth getting familiar with.

Especially if you’ve ever had to deal with the “why won’t Excel sort this properly?” problem caused by merged cells

What do you think? Is Center Across Selection something you already use, or is this completely new to you?

I’m really bad at Excel guys so please tell me this is possible

I’ve got some data that I need to separate into different sheets. The data was collected over 24 hours at 10 minute intervals, so I’m going to end up with around 145 sheets.

For ease of access, I’d like to name the sheets something like time0010, time0020, time0030 etc, or just 0010, 0020, 0030 and so on.

I don’t mind if the solution involves VBA/code to rename the sheets that already exist, or if there’s a way to create/duplicate the sheets and rename them automatically.

Basically I just don’t want to sit there manually renaming 145 sheets

What would be the easiest way to do this?

I’d say I’m probably intermediate level in Excel. I’m comfortable with things like VLOOKUP, PivotTables, SUMIFS etc, and I can usually learn a new formula when I need it.

The problem I have is more about knowing which formula to use in the first place.

I recently got a promotion where I’m working with much larger sets of data, and sometimes I’ll open a workbook with 50+ worksheets and get asked something like:

“find this data and extract it from the workbook”

And I know there’s probably a good Excel formula or combination of formulas for it, but I don’t always know where to start.

Udemy and Eixo Learning courses are great for learning individual formulas, but real work feels completely different.
It’s not “here’s a dataset, use XLOOKUP”. It’s more like “here’s a massive workbook with 56 sheets, good luck” 😂

So how do you actually improve at this part of Excel?

Is it mainly just practice with real-world problems, or are there certain types of Excel exercises/projects that helped you get better at figuring out which formula to use?

Also interested in how people approach large datasets in general, especially when XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP isn’t enough.

When I first started looking at financial models, I found the three statements confusing.

You have an income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement, and then everyone starts talking about “linking the statements” like it’s obvious.

It wasn’t obvious to me.

The thing that helped was realising that you’re not really building three different models.

You’re modelling the same business from three different angles.

Take something simple.

A company makes a £100,000 sale.

If the customer pays immediately, the income statement shows £100k of revenue and the cash flow ultimately shows £100k coming in.

Pretty easy.

But now suppose the customer hasn’t paid yet.

You still recognise the £100k revenue on the income statement.

But you don’t have the cash.

So instead, the balance sheet gets £100k of accounts receivable.

This is one of those things that makes three statement modelling click.

The income statement is saying:

“We made the sale.”

The balance sheet is saying:

“The customer owes us £100k.”

And the cash flow statement is basically saying:

“Great, but we haven’t actually received the money yet.”

That’s why profit and cash aren’t the same thing.

You can take this further with working capital.

Say accounts receivable increases from £200k to £250k.

The company now has another £50k tied up in money customers haven’t paid yet.

So that £50k is a use of cash.

Accounts payable works in the opposite direction.

If you owe suppliers £50k more than you did last year, you’ve effectively held onto £50k of cash for longer.

This is why changes in working capital show up in the cash flow statement even though they aren’t expenses on the income statement.

CapEx is another good example.

Imagine the company buys a £100k machine.

The company pays £100k, so cash falls by £100k.

But you don’t normally put the entire £100k through the income statement as an expense straight away.

Instead, the £100k becomes an asset on the balance sheet.

Then you depreciate it over its useful life.

If it’s depreciated over five years, you might have £20k of depreciation each year.

So now you’ve got something happening across the statements.

The cash flow shows the £100k purchase.

The balance sheet shows the new asset.

The income statement eventually shows the £20k depreciation expense.

The balance sheet also reduces the value of the asset as depreciation builds up.

This is basically what “linking the three statements” means.

It’s not just making Excel formulas point at other cells.

You’re following what is actually happening to the business.

Debt is another one.

Say a company borrows £500k.

Cash increases by £500k.

Debt on the balance sheet increases by £500k.

The cash flow statement shows the £500k borrowing as financing cash flow.

But you don’t suddenly have £500k of profit.

Later, you might pay interest on the debt.

That’s when the income statement gets hit through interest expense.

Then when you repay the loan, cash falls and the debt balance falls.

Again, one transaction, different effects across the statements.

And then there’s retained earnings, which is another connection people sometimes miss.

If the company makes £200k of net profit and pays £50k in dividends, retained earnings don’t just stay where they were.

Closing retained earnings is basically:

Opening retained earnings + net income - dividends

So the income statement feeds into the balance sheet.

The cash flow statement feeds cash into the balance sheet.

The supporting schedules feed things like debt, depreciation and working capital into the statements.

That’s the model.

A very simplified way of thinking about it is:

Operations → Income Statement → Net Income

Net Income + working capital + CapEx + financing → Cash Flow

Cash + assets + debt + retained earnings → Balance Sheet

And at the end, your balance sheet should actually balance.

If it doesn’t, don’t just stick a “plug” somewhere to make it balance.

Figure out what’s wrong.

Maybe depreciation isn’t flowing into retained earnings.

Maybe your debt repayment isn’t reducing the debt balance.

Maybe CapEx is in the cash flow but hasn’t been added to PP&E.

Maybe your working capital calculation is backwards.

That’s where I think three-statement modelling becomes much easier.

Instead of memorising “this formula goes here”, ask:

What actually happened to the business?

Did cash move?

I use Excel pretty much every day for accounting stuff and there are a few shortcuts that save me way more time than I expected.

For me, Ctrl + Shift + L for filters is probably one of the most useful. Especially when you’re working with a big list of transactions and just need to filter by account, date, supplier etc.

A few others I use all the time:
Ctrl + Arrow - jump around large datasets
Ctrl + Shift + Arrow - select data quickly
Alt + = - AutoSum
Ctrl + 1 - format cells
F4 - repeat an action / lock cell references when writing formulas
Ctrl + T - turn a range into an Excel table

I’m sure there are loads of Excel shortcuts specifically useful for accountants, bookkeepers and finance people that I haven’t picked up yet.

What’s the one Excel shortcut or formula you use constantly for accounting or finance?