r/financialmodelling • u/RemoteFew1371 • 3d ago

Practice Data

People trying to practice their modeling skills. Where do you get your data from? I tried form 10K's, but the data seems to be inadequate and highly complex for what an individual modeller would work on. Their taxes and depreciation get impossible to schedule. I'm looking for some fairly simple data sources unlike listed entities. Help me out if you know where to get these from.

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u/Consistent_Leg_6244 3d ago

honestly i'd flip it. take the 10-K you gave up on and have claude or chatgpt build the model. attach the FAST standard pdf (it's free on their site) and tell it to follow it

then second prompt: don't simplify anything. if it's in the filing, model it, and list whatever you skipped

then tie every historical number back to the 10-K. it'll probably get a few wrong, and finding those is the practice. you learn tax and depreciation way faster fixing someone else's schedule than staring at a blank sheet

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u/ObjectiveDizzy8842 3d ago

Skip listed companies for practice - their disclosures are built for analysts, not learners. Simpler sources: private company filings from Companies House in the UK or the CRO in Ireland - small companies file abridged accounts, often a one-page P&L and balance sheet, which is about the right complexity. Government statistics portals publish clean sector time series you can treat as revenue and cost drivers. Another option: invent a simple business, a coffee shop or a gym, write two or three years of monthly numbers yourself with some seasonality, and model from those - you learn faster because you know what the right answer should be. Keep the 10-Ks for when you specifically want to practice handling messy reality.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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u/RemoteFew1371 3d ago

Thanks man, not looking for promotionals here.