Name: The Analyst Lab: SG&A Variance Analysis
Brand: BeingTheAnalyst
Price: 97.00 USD
Availability: InStock

The scenario

Your first Friday deadline

You’re the new FP&A analyst at NovaTrade Consumer Co. Close just wrapped, and your manager needs the SG&A variance pack for Friday’s leadership review.

The GL export is raw, straight out of the ERP. Seven expense categories, about 950 lines, and two problems sitting where real exports hide them: an account nobody mapped, and a journal entry that came through twice. Miss either one and the number you put in front of leadership is wrong.

You won’t be guessing whether you got it right. Every step ends with a check number, and the workbook ticks off each step as your numbers tie out.

What you deliver A variance analysis that ties to control totals, a written memo explaining what moved and why, and a clean answer when someone asks where a number came from.

What you get

Everything is in the box

01
The workbookTwo months of raw GL detail, the chart of accounts, and the budget, already loaded in one Excel workbook. Gray cells show you where your work goes, and a progress panel ticks off each step as it ties out.
02
The labFive steps, about 90 minutes. Each one tells you what to do, gives you the exact Excel clicks and formulas, and ends with a check number, so you know you’re right before you move on.
03
The field guideRead the GL, a complete 6-part field guide written like a senior analyst training you on your first Monday. You are never stuck with nowhere to look.
04
The credentialFinish the lab, submit your work, pass a short verification Q&A, and earn a BTA Verified Completion Credential for your resume and LinkedIn.

After the lab

What you will be able to do

Read a raw GL export and know exactly what you are looking at: every column, every code
Map accounts to summary categories with lookups, so the data tells a story instead of listing transactions
Catch data quality issues before they become your problem: duplicate entries and accounts nobody mapped
Build a variance analysis from scratch: Actual vs. Budget, formatted the way leadership expects to see it
Write a variance memo a VP would actually read: clear, specific, no fluff
Trace a variance to its cause by drilling from the number down to the transactions behind it
Tie out to control totals and answer the question every manager asks: where did this number come from?

The credential

Proof, not a participation badge

Most online courses hand you a certificate for watching videos. This one you have to earn.

Complete the lab, submit your work, and answer a short verification Q&A covering your control totals, the data quality issues you caught, and your variance outputs. Get 7 of 8 right and the credential is yours.

The dataset has known correct answers, so the credential says you got it right. Finishing alone does not earn it, which is exactly what makes it worth something to a hiring manager.

And you keep the work itself: a finished variance workbook and memo you can walk an interviewer through, with verification that your numbers tied out.

How it looks on your resume

BTA Verified Completion: SG&A Variance Analysis

NovaTrade Consumer Co. | BeingTheAnalyst.com

Built an executive-ready Actual vs. Budget variance pack and memo from raw general ledger data
Identified and corrected data quality issues (an unmapped account, a duplicated journal entry) before reporting
Passed objective verification Q&A confirming correct totals, variances, and variance drivers

Who built this

Built by a CFO with 15+ years in FP&A

I’m Amer. My first job was as an analyst, and I was overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start. The theory from school was solid. It just didn’t tell me what to do with the export sitting in my inbox on Monday morning.

I figured it out the slow way, over years on the job, and worked my way up to CFO. From that seat I kept watching new analysts hit the same wall I did: capable people with good educations who had never seen what real corporate data looks like.

So I built the thing I needed back then.

These days I’m automating a lot of this work myself, which is exactly why I want you to learn it by hand first. The next generation of analysts needs both sides: building the variance and writing the insight manually, then automating the work to move faster. Skip straight to automation and you can’t audit what the AI hands you, and you won’t be credible when someone asks how the number was built.

Common questions

What tools do I need?

Microsoft Excel. That’s it. If you can write a SUM formula, you have the starting point. The instructions give you every formula and every click the lab needs, including lookups and pivot tables. (Built for Microsoft 365 or Excel 2021 and later. A workaround for older versions is included.)

How long does it take?

About 90 minutes, in five steps of 10 to 25 minutes each, so you can stop between any two. It’s fully self-paced: instant download, no deadlines, no cohort schedule.

Is this a video course?

No. There are no videos to sit through. You get an Excel workbook of realistic data, step-by-step instructions, and a field guide, and then you do the actual work an analyst does: map the accounts, tie out control totals, catch the data issues, build the rollup, and write the variance memo.

How does the verification work?

When you finish, you submit your workbook (your memo lives inside it), then answer a short verification Q&A: 8 questions about the data quality issues you caught, your corrected numbers, and your biggest variances and what drove them. Get 7 of 8 right and the credential is yours. The answers are deterministic (the dataset has known correct answers), so the credential means you got it right. If you don’t pass, you can review your work and retake it.

Is it too advanced for me?

The lab is calibrated for entry level: accounting and finance students, recent grads in their first analyst or FP&A role, and CPA/CFA candidates. If you’ve taken an intro accounting course, you have the foundation, and the lab adds the applied layer. You’re never working blind, either. Every step ends with a check number that tells you you’re on track before you move on.

Why learn this by hand when AI can do it?

Because AI will confidently hand you a variance memo built on data it never validated, and you need to know whether to trust it. Analysts who can catch what the model got wrong are the ones who stay valuable. Learn the fundamentals here, automate them next.

What’s the refund policy?

30-day money-back guarantee. If the lab isn’t what you expected, reply to your receipt email and you get a refund. No forms, no hassle.

Do the job before you have the job

The closest thing to your first month as an analyst, minus the deadline pressure.

$97

Get The Analyst Lab

1 Excel workbook · 7 expense categories · 5 steps · about 90 minutes

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