Wall Street Prep vs CFI and WSO (2024)

Many students and professionals considering a career in investment banking, equity research, or private equity think about enrolling in a financial and valuation modeling training program.

Prior to 2003, when Wall Street Prep pioneered the Financial Modeling Self Study Program, this type of training was not available outside of a formal investment banking training program. The program became a hit, and since 2003 several other companies have emerged to offer similar programs.

In 2015 and 2020, Corporate Finance Institute and Wall Street Oasis developed comparable programs, respectively.

Selecting a program that is right for you

While all three companies offer multiple products, all three have a version of a “complete” flagship product which includes what typically represents the “core” investment banking financial modeling skill set.

When considering in which financial modeling program to enroll, factors such as price, support, content format, and access to a macro toolkit are all important. But perhaps the most critical factor of all is quality of the content – a financial modeling program is useless if it does not teach material effectively.

In this article, I will try to lay out some of the differences and similarities between the programs and explain why Wall Street Prep remains the best choice.

Product	Premium Package	FMVA	Elite Package
Price	$499 (See deals)	$497	$497
What you get	Videos + PDF + Excel Templates + Live Virtual Kickoff Class	Videos + PDF + Excel Templates	Videos + PDF + Excel Templates
Primary Content Author	Matan Feldman: Founder @ Wall Street Prep (est 2003). One of Wall Street’s most sought-after trainers (clients below).	Tim Vipond: Founder @ Corporate Finance Institute (ext. 2017). Does not train in person to our knowledge.	Various: Bios not disclosed by WSO and appear to be freelancers Do not train firms in person to our knowledge
Program Structure	35+ Courses (6 core + 30+ bonus courses) Live Virtual Kickoff Class Last Major Update: 2021	24 Courses (9 core + 14 bonus courses) Last Major Update: 2019	5 Courses (no bonus courses) Last Major Update: 2020
Can You Download Lessons?	Yes	No	Yes
Other Benefits	6-Months Access to Macabacus Excel Add-In	6-Months Access to Pitchbook	12-Months Access to WSO Company Database & Video Library
Support	E-mail & Phone	Email & Phone	Email
Used at investment banks to train analysts and associates?	Yes	No	No
Does company run live training at investment banks?	Yes	No	No
Years in business as online trainer	Since 2003	Since 2015	Since 2020
Certification available? Details	Yes	Yes	No
Does program qualify for CPE Credit?	Yes	Yes	No

Course Quality

Given the considerations stated above, Wall Street Prep’s program provides the highest quality training out there. Wall Street Prep invests heavily in ensuring that materials reflect current best practices and are taught in a way that is intuitive. Training follows a very clear, step-by-step approach where trainees build models essentially from scratch, starting from a blank excel spreadsheet and working sequentially through a model.

You’ll be learning directly from Matan Feldman, one of Wall Street’s most sought-after trainers of new analyst and associates.

Course Samples

There is no better way to determine which approach works best for you than to actually sample the programs.

WSO provides a few video previews for free to put their best foot forward. (CFI samples require registration). Below we’ve provided comparable WSP videos that allow you to compare teaching approach, the level of complexity of the model (is this a real-life model?) and how concepts are covered.

A 30,000ft View of Our Model Forecasting the Income Statement Modeling Basic Shares Outstanding and RSUs	View WSO Samples here (scroll downpage).	CFI does not offer samples without email registration.

Which program(s) do investment banks use to train their analysts and associates?

Investment banks, private equity firms, and top business school programs hire Wall Street Prep to conduct analyst and associate training in-house. This enables our instructors (all former investment bankers who are also involved in the development and refinement of the self-study program) to receive continuous feedback about materials and integrate the latest best practices into the training material. Below we lay out how all three firms compare to one another:

Partial list of live classroom training: Investment Banking: Goldman Sachs, RBC, JP Morgan, Lazard, Guggenheim, Centerview Partners, Evercore, Perella Weinberg, William Blair, Harris Williams, Piper Jaffrey Private Equity: KKR, Carlyle Group, Bain Capital, Summit Partners, Advent, Thoma Bravo, CVC, GTCR, Roark, AEA, CDW, Ares Management Investment Management and Other Firms: Point72, Blackrock, PIMCO, Eaton Vance, Bloomberg, American Express, the World Bank, KPMG, Deloitte, PWC, T Rowe Price Academic Institutions: Harvard Business School, Wharton, Stanford, University of Chicago, Columbia, Cornell Partner Organizations: Girls Who Invest, Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), CFA Society of NY	Firms do not hire Corporate Finance Institute for live classroom training to our knowledge.	Firms do not hire Wall Street Oasis for live classroom training to our knowledge.

Flagship Program Comparison

Core Courses 70-90 hours Financial Statement Modeling (includes Scenario & Sensitivity Analysis and Advanced Financial Modeling Techniques) DCF Modeling Trading Comps Modeling Transaction Comps Modeling LBO Modeling M&A Modeling 30+ Bonus Courses 50+ Hours of Video Content Live-Virtual “Meet the Instructor” Kickoff Class A bi-weekly live virtual class to give users an overview of the program, how it relates to a career in investment banking + Q&A session. 30+ Bonus Courses 50 Hours of Video Content Basics Excel Basics (Mac) Excel Basics (PC) PowerPoint Shortcuts for Investment Banking Investment Banking Soft Skills Advanced & Industry Impact of Tax Reform on LBO, M&A, Valuation and Financial Statement Models Excel VBA Advanced M&A Accounting: Purchase Price Allocation Advanced Accounting: Intercompany Investments Covenants and Credit Agreements PE Real Estate Waterfalls Commercial Real Estate Modeling Understanding Corporate Financial Restructuring Restructuring Investment Banking Project Finance Primer Healthcare IB: Sector-by-sector breakdown, financial metrics and drivers Deconstructing a Bank’s Financial Statements Deconstructing a Maritime Company’s Financial Statements Deconstructing an Oil & Gas Company’s Financial Statements Understanding E&P Hedging Techniques and How to Model Them Understanding MLPs A Practitioner’s Guide to Private Company Analysis Debt Capital Markets Primer FX Options Buy Side Investing: Long / Short Investing	Core Courses 65-90 hours Financial Analysis Fundamentals Building a 3 Statement Financial Model Business Valuation Modeling Budgeting and Forecasting FP&A Monthly Cash Flow Forecasting Scenario and Sensitivity Analysis Dashboards and Data Visualization PowerPoint and Pitchbooks Advanced Financial Modeling & Valuation 14 Bonus Courses 40-60 Hours Basics Accounting Fundamentals Reading Financial Statements Excel Crash Course Intro to Corporate Finance Math for Corporate Finance Advanced & Industry Advanced Excel Formulas Real Estate Financial Modeling Startup / e-Commerce Financial Model Mining Financial Model & Valuation Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Modeling Leveraged Buyout (LBO) Modeling Corporate & Business Strategy Renewable Energy – Solar Financial Modeling Excel VBA for Finance	Core Courses Excel Basics Financial Statement Modeling LBO Modeling Valuation (Available 07/20) DCF Modeling (Available 07/20) M&A Modeling (Available 07/20) 0 Bonus Courses