Dave Theron is a Chartered Accountant and leading international expert on financial modelling and spreadsheet techniques. More than three decades of practical experience in corporate financial modelling. Dave has coached over 3,000 successful executives in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and Africa.
What is your background?
I qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1965. After which I worked for various organizations an Accountant, Management Accountant, Financial Controller and Financial Director
How did you get into training?
I first got into Financial Modelling way back in 1971 when (when the word modelling was unknown!) building a model for Mazda SA. In those days the medium of input into the computer was punched cards, each card representing a letter or number. These cards had to be fed into a mainframe computer the size of a netball field and processed. The Mazda model would take 3 hours to feed in the cards, and 3 hours for the computer to process (to run the model). Doing a "what-if" meant finding the card by wading through the pack of 40000 cards, identifying the card by its series of punched holes!
Finding the building of models far more rewarding than producing monthly reports, this became my passion, fueled by the fact that, as technology improved, the actual building of models became easier. That 40000 card model nowadays would probably take 10 seconds with Excel.
Believing, way back then, that there was a need for modelling in all businesses, I set about creating modelling courses from my experiences and training companies in the use and building thereof. A lot of missionary work was required!
What is your favourite course that you love to teach?
Financial modelling
What training experience are you most proud of?
Really all training experience is rewarding, and I often get the comments that, had the delegate "known about this before" it would have saved them weeks of work. I really enjoy that aspect of my job.
What makes you unique?
The fact that the courses have been developed from my practical experience in the work place which means I understand the challenges my participants face and can provide real solutions to them.
Why are you passionate about training?
It is rewarding to see people benefiting from your input.
What else inspires / drives you / are you passionate about (when you’re not training)?
In my leisure time, it is loading up my 4x4 with all the water, food & fuel necessary and heading out to really remote places in the African bush for a few weeks of camping in the wild!
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