The FAST Modeling Alliance
The FAST Modeling Alliance is an informal network of companies and individuals who believe financial models should be built and maintained according to the FAST Modeling Standard. The FAST approach focuses on practices applicable to financial modeling and hence may not be relevant to other uses of spreadsheet software.
The FAST Modeling Standard is characterized by a unique emphasis on transparency and readability, adaptability and maintainability, and implementation safety and speed. The guiding philosophy is to facilitate the creation of open, robust, and safe spreadsheets, and that it be done efficiently. A good financial model should be understandable to any financially literate person, regardless of their spreadsheet skills. The FAST acronym itself is derived from the words Flexible, Accurate, Structured, and Transparent. The acronym also communicates that it is a uniquely fast and efficient spreadsheet development standard.
The objectives of this website and the FAST Alliance are:
- To publish the FAST Modeling Standard, specifically to make publicly available a detailed and current description of the FAST standard.
- Through the Signatories page to document support for the FAST standard.
- To promote the FAST Standard as a common language for the financial modeling industry.
The FAST Modeling Standard was pioneered by Morten Siersted (F1F9) and John Richter (formerly F1F9 and now Financial Mechanics), who jointly developed it starting in 1998. Consequently, the FAST Modeling Alliance has been formed as a joint initiative between F1F9 and Financial Mechanics and these two firms are for now the authors and guardians of the standard. However neither F1F9 nor Financial Mechanics claim ownership of the FAST Modeling Standard. It is intended to be completely open to anyone who wishes to adopt it, and it is made available in detail on this site with this purpose in mind.