Modeling out working capital
Full Question:
For change in working capital, you use the change in operating expenses. Normally, and what I’ve been taught, is that you use current assets minus current liabilities. Can you explain to me why you would use the change in operating expenses?

Re: WACC : Historical Beta Values
Q1> When I am picking competitors to calculate average of beta values, what are the evaluation criteria one should keep in mind while picking competitors? Which ones to pick and which ones to not pick?

Q2> Why don't we include the target company itself in calculating the average beta value?

RE: Purchase Price - Net Tangible Book Value
Actually, referring to Other Intangibles.

Same stores sales on retail business recovery
if i have a set of same store sales growth for a retail company. i'm trying to see if the current recovery in those growth has actually made the sales level back to the pre-crisis level. hence... i index by putting 100 as 2007's monthly number. then i multiply that 100 with 1+SSS growth in 2008 and... if i have a set of same store sales growth for a retail company. i'm trying to see if the current recovery in those growth has actually made the sales level back to the pre-crisis level. hence...

i index by putting 100 as 2007's monthly number.
then i multiply that 100 with 1+SSS growth in 2008 and get a set of 2008 monthly new index number.
and for 2009 SSS growth, i multiply the 2008 monthly new index number with (1+SSS growth rate 2009) to get a new set of monthly index number for 2009
and then compare the 2007 the index number of 100 that i begin with to see if it grows above 100

is that how i can tell if the recovery has take place? or i can't do it this way as there are seasonality in the retail business, say winter and summer time? thx Read More

Making COUNTIF More Adaptable
I'm trying to count how many times a name occurs in a specific column. However, depending on where the person sits in the hierarchy, their name will appear in a different column. How do I make the "criteria range" in a COUNTIF function dynamic? I need a way to reference a key cell in the... I'm trying to count how many times a name occurs in a specific column. However, depending on where the person sits in the hierarchy, their name will appear in a different column.

How do I make the "criteria range" in a COUNTIF function dynamic?

I need a way to reference a key cell in the criteria range of COUNTIF. I will change this cell for each report depending on where in the hierarchy the individual is. I need the COUNTIF function to switch columns based on the value in this key cell.

Or is there simply a better way to go about counting these instances?

Note: If it matters, I'm using countifs, but only one part of the formula needs to adapt as described above. Read More