CFA: Financial calculator skills
Explanations, applications and practice for financial calculator skills.
- Common mistakes
BA II PLUS: treating a cash-flow frequency as payments per year
Separate repeated entry counts from the calendar interval of the schedule.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: Cash Flow time zero and BGN
Place a beginning receipt at time zero explicitly in the Cash Flow sequence.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: clear TVM values and inspect settings
Separate the five TVM values from the frequency and payment-timing settings.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: different payment and compounding frequencies
Derive a payment-period factor before using a monthly-payment, quarterly-compounding state.
- Common mistakes
BA II PLUS: dividing the nominal rate twice
Check the frequency state before entering a manually divided annual quotation.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: END and BGN at a common value date
Compare two equal-payment patterns without moving the valuation date.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: nominal rate and quarterly settings
Connect I/Y, P/Y and C/Y with the independently calculated periodic factor.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: grouped cash-flow frequencies
Expand a frequency entry into its actual consecutive period schedule.
- Concepts
An IRR root and a discount-rate choice
Distinguish solving an equation from selecting the valuation rate for a decision.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: multiple and missing IRR roots
Check the NPV equation before treating an IRR display as a unique decision answer.
- Formulas
IRR equation and the rate domain
Keep timing, zero flows and admissible discount factors in the root equation.
- Worked examples
Two IRR roots and an NPV profile
Evaluate one fixed cash-flow schedule at several stated rates.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: N, years and payment periods
Convert the horizon into the intervals represented by the TVM worksheet.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: NPV rate per cash-flow interval
Use the discount rate for one Cash Flow worksheet interval.
- Templates
Cash-flow period entry sheet
Download a schedule that retains time zero, interval units and zero-flow periods.
- Practice
Practice: calculator state and timing
Diagnose three different input-state mistakes with explained alternatives.
- Revision
Financial calculator preflight checklist
Check state, units, signs and the schedule before interpreting a computed result.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: cash-flow signs and perspective
Identify whose inflows and outflows the entries describe.
- Templates
Calculator input-state log
Download an editable record of worksheet settings and expected mathematical results.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: an unused PMT in a single-sum exercise
Diagnose the modeled extra payments before attributing an unexpected answer to rounding.
- Comparisons
BA II PLUS: TVM and Cash Flow worksheets
Choose the worksheet from the cash-flow pattern and its timing convention.
- Calculator guides
BA II PLUS: preserve zero cash-flow intervals
Retain elapsed periods even when their cash-flow amount is zero.