Cost Benefit Analysis with Excel Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Financial Analysts, Project Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-FM-157

Before you join: Participants should be comfortable using Excel for formulas, cell references, basic functions and simple charts.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Investment proposals often contain credible operational arguments but weak financial evidence. Project teams may omit lifecycle costs, use inconsistent price bases, overstate benefits, or apply discount rates without showing their effect on the recommendation. Decision makers then receive spreadsheets that cannot be audited, compared with alternatives, or defended during budget approval. Cost-benefit analysis provides a disciplined way to compare options, quantify material impacts, test uncertainty and state whether an investment creates sufficient value.

This course teaches participants to build, review and present cost-benefit analyses in Microsoft Excel. Participants define the counterfactual, identify incremental costs and benefits, structure time-phased cash flows, select appropriate discounting methods and calculate net present value, internal rate of return and benefit-cost ratios. They assess alternatives with unequal lives, distinguish financial from economic impacts, handle non-monetised effects and use sensitivity, scenario and break-even analysis to expose the assumptions that matter most. The course also addresses model governance, evidence quality and investment recommendations.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with worked Excel models, sector-based cases, peer review and guided analysis of project assumptions. Cases reflect decisions such as public infrastructure investment, process automation, service redesign and health programme funding. Participants leave with a reusable Excel cost-benefit analysis workbook structure, calculation templates, review checklists and an application plan for a current or planned investment decision. Successful participants receive a certificate of completion. The course is suited to finance, project, policy and operational professionals who need to prepare, challenge or approve investment cases.

What you will be able to do

  • Construct an auditable Excel cost-benefit model using structured inputs, calculations and outputs
  • Define counterfactual, baseline and incremental impacts for an investment appraisal
  • Calculate NPV, IRR, XIRR and benefit-cost ratios from time-phased cash flows
  • Apply real and nominal price treatment, inflation assumptions and discount rates correctly
  • Compare mutually exclusive options using NPV, equivalent annual cost and decision rules
  • Perform sensitivity, scenario and break-even analysis using Excel data tables
  • Present investment recommendations with charts, assumptions, risks and non-monetised impacts
  • Review cost-benefit models using documented controls, evidence checks and audit trails

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build investment appraisals that withstand finance and governance review
  • Explain discounting and value-for-money results with greater confidence
  • Identify weak assumptions before they undermine a funding recommendation
  • Create reusable Excel models faster through structured workbook design
  • Contribute credibly to capital allocation and business case decisions

For your organisation

  • Improves consistency of investment appraisal methods across projects and departments
  • Reduces approval risk from incomplete lifecycle costs and unsupported benefits
  • Makes competing investment options easier to compare on a common basis
  • Strengthens audit trails for budget, procurement and governance decisions
  • Focuses management attention on assumptions with the greatest financial effect

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define the decision context, baseline and analysis boundaries for a cost-benefit appraisal.

  • Decision context, counterfactual and incremental impacts defined before model construction
  • Stakeholder mapping distinguishes private, fiscal, economic and distributional effects
  • Cost-benefit analysis workflow moves from problem statement through recommendation
  • Scoping assumptions documented in an auditable analysis plan
  • Baseline and do-nothing cases tested against proposed intervention
  • Materiality thresholds focus effort on decision-relevant costs and benefits

Participants can identify, classify and document relevant costs and benefits using reliable evidence.

  • Work breakdown structures connect activities, resources, costs and timing
  • Capital, operating, maintenance and replacement costs classified consistently
  • Fixed, variable, sunk and avoidable costs separated correctly
  • Market prices adjusted for taxes, transfers and price bases
  • Benefit categories specified with units, volumes, values and evidence
  • Data dictionaries record sources, owners, dates and quality limitations

Participants can create a controlled Excel workbook structure for transparent cost-benefit analysis.

  • Workbook architecture separates inputs, calculations, outputs and documentation
  • Excel Tables, named ranges and structured references improve formula control
  • Data validation lists prevent inconsistent scenario and assumption entries
  • IFERROR, XLOOKUP and SUMIFS support traceable model calculations
  • Formula auditing tools identify precedents, dependents and broken references
  • Version-control conventions maintain an auditable workbook change history

Participants can build time-phased lifecycle cash flows using consistent price and timing assumptions.

  • Time-phased cash flows align costs and benefits with delivery milestones
  • Nominal and real terms distinguished using inflation indices
  • Base-year prices and constant-price conversions applied consistently
  • Working capital, residual value and terminal costs incorporated
  • Annual, quarterly and monthly periods selected for decision materiality
  • Timing assumptions reconciled to procurement, implementation and operating schedules

Participants can calculate and interpret discounted cash flow measures for investment decisions.

  • Discount factors convert future cash flows into present values
  • NPV calculated using XNPV for dated, irregular cash flows
  • IRR and XIRR interpreted alongside reinvestment and multiple-rate limitations
  • Benefit-cost ratio calculated from discounted benefit and cost streams
  • Discount-rate sensitivity shows how timing affects project attractiveness
  • Public-sector social discount rates distinguished from corporate hurdle rates

Participants can compare options using appropriate financial and economic appraisal methods.

  • Incremental analysis compares mutually exclusive options against a common baseline
  • Ranking rules resolve conflicts between NPV, IRR and benefit-cost ratio
  • Equivalent annual cost compares alternatives with unequal useful lives
  • Opportunity costs and shadow prices capture economically relevant resource use
  • Cost-effectiveness analysis used when benefits cannot be credibly monetised
  • Distributional analysis identifies winners, losers and compensating measures

Participants can test uncertainty and communicate the factors most likely to change a recommendation.

  • One-way sensitivity analysis tests assumptions using Excel data tables
  • Two-way data tables expose interactions between critical model drivers
  • Scenario analysis combines coherent downside, central and upside assumptions
  • Break-even analysis identifies values required to meet decision thresholds
  • Probability-weighted expected values calculated for discrete risk outcomes
  • Risk registers assign owners, mitigations and residual financial exposure

Participants can present cost-benefit results clearly for senior decision makers.

  • Input sheets use colour conventions, units and assumption source notes
  • Financial statements linked through checks, reconciliations and control totals
  • Conditional formatting flags missing inputs, negative values and threshold breaches
  • Waterfall charts explain major cost and benefit drivers
  • Tornado charts rank sensitivity drivers for decision makers
  • Dashboard outputs present NPV, BCR, risks and key assumptions

Participants can position cost-benefit analysis within a governed investment approval process.

  • Business case structure connects strategic case, economic case and affordability
  • Five Case Model principles position CBA within investment approval
  • Evidence grading tests valuation sources, causality and transferability
  • Independent model review checks logic, formulas, inputs and outputs
  • Audit trails retain assumptions, source evidence, approvals and model versions
  • Recommendations state limitations, residual risks and decision conditions

Participants can apply course methods to a workplace investment decision and plan the next analysis steps.

  • Public investment case assesses travel-time, emissions and maintenance benefits
  • Corporate automation case values labour savings, quality gains and downtime
  • Health programme case separates fiscal savings from wider societal benefits
  • Investment recommendation combines quantified results with unmonetised impacts
  • Executive narrative communicates assumptions, trade-offs and decision rationale
  • Application plan identifies a live decision, data needs and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Auditable Excel cost-benefit analysis workbook template
  2. Lifecycle cost and benefit identification checklist
  3. Discounted cash flow calculation model
  4. Sensitivity and scenario analysis template
  5. Investment appraisal quality review checklist
  6. Workplace cost-benefit analysis application plan

Who should attend

  • Financial Analysts — need defensible investment models for capital and operating proposals
  • Project Managers — need to quantify project value, costs, risks and delivery timing
  • Business Case Managers — need evidence-based appraisals for approval submissions
  • Finance Business Partners — need to challenge assumptions and compare funding options
  • Policy and Programme Officers — need to assess economic and social impacts of interventions
  • Operational Managers — need to justify automation, service improvement and replacement decisions

Skills and tools covered

Investment appraisal modellingDiscounted cash flowSensitivity analysisOption comparisonExcel model controlsBusiness case reporting

Tools and standards

Microsoft Excel, Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Five Case Model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by guided Excel model building, case analysis, small-group review and decision simulations. Participants work with time-phased costs, benefits, discount rates, option comparisons and uncertainty assumptions drawn from realistic investment proposals. Trainers demonstrate formulas and model controls before participants apply them to structured case data. Peer review sessions use practical quality checks to identify errors, unsupported assumptions and unclear recommendations. The final sessions support application planning for a live workplace decision.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable using Excel for formulas, cell references, basic functions and simple charts. They should understand common finance terms such as revenue, cost, cash flow, budget and depreciation, and have experience contributing to project proposals, budgets or investment decisions. Prior exposure to discounted cash flow analysis is useful but not essential. The course does not require programming, advanced Excel macros, formal economics training, accounting qualifications or prior use of specialist financial modelling software.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should be able to use standard Excel formulas and understand basic financial terms such as costs, revenue and cash flow. Previous experience with NPV, IRR or formal cost-benefit analysis is helpful but not required.

Bring a laptop with a current desktop version of Microsoft Excel, ideally with access to XNPV, XIRR, XLOOKUP and data table functions. You may also bring a non-confidential project proposal, budget or investment question for your application plan.

The course suits finance analysts, project managers, business case authors, policy professionals and operational managers involved in investment decisions. It is particularly useful for people who prepare, review or approve capital, transformation and service improvement proposals.

This course focuses on deciding whether an intervention represents value for money, including economic costs, benefits, non-monetised impacts and uncertainty. Financial modelling courses may focus more broadly on corporate forecasts, valuation, financing structures or financial statements.

You can use the workbook structure and checklists to assess a planned purchase, automation initiative, capital replacement, policy intervention or service redesign. The application plan helps identify the data, assumptions, reviewers and approval dates needed for a live appraisal.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The course moves from scope and data through Excel modelling, discounting, option comparison, uncertainty, reporting and applied workplace planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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