Abstract
This paper introduces a novel way in which Microsoft Excel can be integrated into financial education. Practitioners steadily mention career-related Excel skills as a competitive advantage for recent graduates at the start of their professional career. We develop and present three Excel-based individualized projects that can be applied in classes of all sizes and provide students with individualized assignments. The projects teach several functions of Excel and concepts of finance, serving simultaneously as an assessment of students’ progress in the course. Using a pretest-posttest study design with control group and comparing collected data with means-difference t-tests, paired t-tests, and propensity score matching analyses, we find that the projects effectively convey knowledge to students and increase their self-efficacy. Students also reported through both qualitative and quantitative data that the projects aided their learning and were engaging.