Advanced Modelling in Finance using Excel and VBA

This book will appeal to both graduate students and practitioners. Students will value the Excel spreadsheets allowing them to develop their knowledge of modelling in finance, using a step-by-step approach accompanied by explanations using elementary mathematical statistics and probability. Practitioners will value the VBA functions as a source of up-to-date and efficient programs that can be easily used from Excel.

Standard material covered includes:
* portfolio theory and efficient frontiers
* the Capital Asset Pricing Model, beta and variance-covariance matrices
* performance measurement
* the Black-Scholes option pricing formula
* binomial trees for options on equities and bonds
* Monte Carlo simulation
* bond yield-to-maturity, duration and convexity
* term structure models from Vasicek and Cox, Ingersoll and Ross Advanced topics covered include:
* Value-at-Risk
* style analysis
* an improved binomial tree (Leisen and Reimer)
* Quasi Monte Carlo simulation
* volatility smiles
* Black, Derman and Toy trees
* normal interest rate trees

The book is accompanied by a CD-ROM containing the spreadsheets, VBA functions and macros used throughout the work.

This unique book demonstrates that Excel and VBA can play an important role in the explanation and implementation of numerical methods across finance. It takes a comprehensive look at equities, options on equities and options on bonds from the early 1950s to the late 1990s. Each area contains both standard material and more advanced topics.

All models are developed fully in both spreadsheets, bringing clarity to teaching in finance, and user-defined functions in VBA, giving a ready-made library of portable functions that can be used in Excel. The spreadsheets and VBA functions are provided on a CD-ROM.

Booknews

From the material developed for their Computer-Based Financial Modelling graduate course at London Business School, Jackson and Staunton explain the use of the VBA functions within Excel. Their attempt to maximize Excel features with macros turned into a full- scale expedition into the VBA language suitable for highly technical and numerically demanding areas such as the valuation of financial derivatives. They assume no specialized background beyond graduate or advanced graduate training in business. No information is provided about the disk. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

MARY JACKSON and MIKE STAUNTON have worked together teaching spreadsheet modelling to both graduate students and practitioners since 1985.

MARY JACKSON was Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences at London Business School. She is author of three previous books for John Wiley Sons: Understanding Expert Systems (1992), Advanced Spreadsheet Modelling (1988) and Creative Modelling (1985).

MIKE STAUNTON is Visiting Lecturer in Numerical Methods at City University Business School and Director of the London Share Price Datbase at London Business School. He is co-author, with Elroy Dimson and Paul Marsh, of Millennium Book II: 101 Years of Investment Returns (2001) and Millennium Book: A Century of Investment Returns (2000).