Data Visualisation and

Presentation for Financial Analysts

Danielle Stein Fairhurst

For supplementary material & updates, visit:

www.plumsolutions.com.au/book

You will find:

DOWLOADABLE RESOURCES

• Online resources & Weblinks (Chapter 1)

• Excel Versions (Chapter 5)

• Shortcuts (Windows Version) (Chap 5)

• Shortcuts (Mac Version) (Chap 5)

• How to Create a Break-Even Chart (Chapter 9)

• QA Log template (Chap 10, Appendix 10.1)MODELS

• Model Assessment Checklist (Chap 3)

• Salary Sacrifice Calculator (Chap 7)

• Scenario Comparison (including both Exercise and

Completed Versions) (Chap 11)

Data Visualisation and Presentation

for Financial AnalystsAgenda

1. Use visuals, not spreadsheets

2. Tell a story; our brains are better wired

for stories than abstract ideas

3. Make it personal. Don’t just spout

numbers. Put numbers into

perspective and make it relevant.

4. Use Excel for analysis, not

presentation

1. Use Visuals

Source: http://neomam.com/interactive/13reasons1 Google Ngram Viewer2 Google Trends3 Zacks, J., Levy, E., Tversky, B., Schinao, D. (2002). Graphs in Print,

Diagrammatic Representation and Reasoning London: Springer-Verlag.

Information OverloadWe receive five time as much information as we did in 1986

Alleyne, R. (11 Feb 2011). Welcome to the information age – 174 newspapers a day. The Telegraph

Infographics and other visuals are

successful at countering information

overload because…

• We like pictures

• We don’t like to read

• We want it now

and…

Is the Increase of Visual

Information “Dumbing us Down”?

Use visualisations

to grab your

audience’s

attention and get

your point across

Show your Message

Challenges when Presenting Financials

• Financial data is

complex. 85% of all

managers do not

understand the reports

they receive1

• Financial concepts are

not intuitive

• Audience comes from

different backgrounds

1. Source: Dr Irwin Jarett, Tomorrow’s Software

2. Tell a Story

• People respond to pictures and stories

• If they wanted data, just send a report.

• In a verbal presentation you can give them

emotion as well as data (no, it’s not a dirty

word)

• Slides should reinforce your message, not

repeat it

• Give them detailed financials as a handout

after the presentation.

Fatal and Non-Fatal

Workplace Accidents

Fatal and Non-Fatal Workplace

Accidents

Get your Message Straight

Men are more likely to die

in workplace accidents,

therefore we should hire

only women.

Is this a good interpretation of

the data?

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

Male Female

Fatal Workplace Accidents 2012

Workplace Safety is a

Deadly Responsibility

• Eight workers died over the past month:

• A worker, 46, crushed by a vehicle in a factory

• A 45-year-old killed after a cherry picker collapsed

• A ROAD worker killed by a reversing sweeper truck

• A 26-year-old crushed by a 150kg piece of machinery dropped

by a crane

• A 52-year-old dies after falling into a sewage tank

• A 73-year-old gored by a bull

• A 25-year-old man dies after a gas explosion in his van

• A worker crushed by a falling tree in the Otway Ranges

Source: Herald Sun

Case Studies

Gain the audience’s interest using stories, then back up

your message using the data

3. Make it Personal

• Your data is not the main event, you

are.

• Don’t rely the slides or the technology

• YOU are the presentation, not the

slides

• Data has no inherent meaning on its

own without context

Giving Data Meaning• Decision makers need insight, not information

• Give those numbers meaning by

comparing them to a benchmark

• Go further by adding some trends

• Exercise: if your target is to sell 120 units,

and 125 are produced, there’s no problem,

right?

Give them insight, not

numbers!

Show the Context

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Hstoricals vs TargetActual Target

For Example

4. Use Excel for analysis, not

presentation

Give them Insights, not Numbers

• Just because you love numbers,

doesn’t mean they do

• Don’t overwhelm

them with numbers

• Overwhelmed or

confused executives

won’t make decisions

Don’t embed a spreadsheet

Business Case for Pet Insurance Product - Scenario Analysis

Best Case Base Case Worst Case5 Year NPV: $2,705,912 $542,375 -$1,501,931

5 Year IRR: 40% 18% -5%

Payback: 3 Years and 8 months 4 Years and 4 months 5 Years and 3 months

-

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

-$10,000,000

-$5,000,000

$0

$5,000,000

$10,000,000

$15,000,000

$20,000,000

$25,000,000

$30,000,000

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

B USIN ESS CA SE F OR PET IN SUR A N CE PR ODUCT - WOR ST CA SE

Acquired Customers Cumulative Cashflow

Do summarise key points

Tips for Model Results Presentations• If running a live model, test the scenarios

you intend to run

• Only pick out the key points they need to

know

• Don’t just embed a spreadsheet onto a slide

• Numbers are only an underlying

measurement of your story

• Give your numbers meaning by comparing

them to a benchmark and add a trend

See “Using Excel for Business Analysis”, Chap12, p267

Presentation Structure

• How should you structure your

presentation?

₋ Take them through the model building

process?

₋ Walk them through the P&L?

₋ Think about what they need to know

• Be clear about the outcome of the

presentation. What do you want them to

do?

See “Using Excel for Business Analysis”, Chap12, p267

Remember…

confused

decision-makers

don’t make

decisions!

Have the Goal in

Sight• When presented with an

information dump,

executives will ask for

more analysis, hoping

you’ll come up with

something useful.

• Eg. “the purpose of this

session is….” or

“by the end of this meeting we will agree on….”

• Give them a roadmap or a clear structure for the

presentation

Excel Tools for Data Analysis

Excel Tools for Data Visualisation

• Charting

• Conditional Formatting;

₋Color Scales

₋Data Bars

₋Icon Sets

• Highlight Duplicates

• Sparklines

New Charts in Excel 2016

Which Chart Type?

Department Sales

Hammerhead $8,500

Mako $5,200

Goblin $7,600

Thresher $9,600

Using Visualisation to make

Sense of Messy Data

Using Visualisation to make

Sense of Messy Data