Introduction

Technical questions test whether you understand how a company's numbers fit together and how those numbers become a price. You are not expected to know every accounting rule. You are expected to reason from first principles: if this changes, what else changes, and by how much.

Interviewers move from definitions to mechanics to judgement. First, what is enterprise value. Then, how does a debt issue change it. Then, which valuation would you trust for this business and why.

Everything in this course builds on three ideas: the three financial statements and how they link, the time value of money, and the difference between equity value and enterprise value. Master those and most questions become applications of them.

Learn concepts, then practise saying them aloud. A concept you can write but not explain in thirty seconds is not interview-ready. Build a small model yourself — a three-statement model and a simple DCF — because building one teaches more than reading about ten.

Keep a list of questions you got wrong and revisit it every few days. Repetition on weak spots beats breadth.

State the answer first, then the reasoning. 'Enterprise value stays the same, because the cash raised offsets the new debt' is better than a minute of setup. If you don't know, say how you would work it out and attempt it; interviewers routinely give credit for structured reasoning.

Confusing equity value with enterprise value, forgetting tax effects on non-cash charges, and mixing up levered and unlevered cash flows account for most technical mistakes. Each lesson in this course flags its own traps.