This summer, I participated in the Business innovation program through the CIBE at Wabash
College. As an intended Financial Economics major, one of my favorite alumni to learn finance
from was Zack Carl ’18. On the first day, I learned about different jobs that involve Finance, such
as Corporate Finance, Investment banking, and Asset Management. Then Zach helped me and
my fellow interns sharpen our Excel skills. We started with the basics and then moved on to
more complex topics, including Index Match Match, V-lookup, and Pivot Tables.
On the second day, Zach taught us the different financial statements and how to break down
each one. He taught us COGS, Revenue, Gross Margin, Operating expenses, and more for
Income statements and explained how each of these terms affects the financial health of a
business. Next was Balance Sheets, which shows a business’s assets, liabilities, and owner’s
equity as of any given date. Finally, Zach taught us Cash flow statements and how these
statements show how cash enters and exits a company during an accounting period.
After learning all this information, I used it as the CFO of the company I pitched at the end of
the program. When putting my financial model together, Zach helped me in person with parts
where I was struggling. He also offered to review my financial model via Zoom before I gave my
pitch. I appreciate all the time and effort Zach has put forward to teach me and my fellow
interns about Finance.
