Why Use GoldSim Instead of a Spreadsheet for Financial Calculations?

Most financial models today are built using spreadsheets. Spreadsheets are relatively inexpensive and most analysts are comfortable with using them. In addition, numerous macros and add-ons are available to enhance spreadsheets (e.g., tools to enable Monte Carlo simulation within a spreadsheet). So it is natural to ask: "Why can't I just use a spreadsheet for my financial models? What are the advantages of using GoldSim?"

Although spreadsheets are very useful for accounting tasks and managing lists of items, they have weaknesses when used for quantitative modeling tasks, such as analyzing and forecasting the performance of a business or investment portfolio. The major weaknesses of spreadsheets for these types of applications, and how GoldSim addresses these issues, are outlined briefly below:

These and other advantages make GoldSim a powerful and flexible improvement over spreadsheets for building quantitative financial models. In addition, because GoldSim can link seamlessly to spreadsheets, you can still use spreadsheets as databases for inputs and outputs, and even as subroutines for specialized calculations.