On 25 October 2025, the APU Actuarial Science Club (ASC) once again demonstrated its commitment to industry-relevant learning by organising a virtual workshop titled “Excelson: Building Your Excel Racket & Smash Your Way to VBA Mastery”.

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The session featured guest speaker Mr Jun-Ho Wan, an experienced actuarial professional who has served Allianz Partners for the past six years. With extensive expertise in general insurance pricing and strong exposure to reinsurance, reserving, and capital modelling, he brought invaluable real-world insights that enriched the participants’ learning experience. 

The workshop opened with a comprehensive refresher on Excel fundamentals. Jun-Ho walked the participants through essential functions including SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, and COUNT, as well as basic data visualisation techniques.

This practical introduction set a comfortable pace for beginners and established a solid foundation before moving into more demanding topics. His guidance bridged classroom learning with actual industry application, allowing students to appreciate how foundational knowledge becomes powerful when used in meaningful contexts. 

Building on this momentum, the session progressed into advanced Excel functions such as XLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH, IF, SUMIFS, date formulas, and pivot tables. Rather than relying on theoretical explanations alone, Jun-Ho incorporated practical mini examples to demonstrate how these functions work cohesively in real actuarial and analytics tasks. 

Participants were able to see firsthand how data manipulation, problem-solving, and decision-making come together in professional environments. 

With the Excel groundwork firmly established, the workshop transitioned into VBA basics. Jun-Ho introduced macro recording and simple procedures to automate repetitive tasks, showcasing how VBA can significantly streamline workflows. 

His demonstrations illustrated how a single command button could replace multiple manual steps, reinforcing the value of automation in the modern data-driven workplace.

The session continued with real-world VBA applications, including loops (IF, FOR), user-defined functions, and basic debugging techniques. These examples mirrored what actuarial analysts commonly perform in industry: automating quotation tools, preparing formatted reports, and generating data scenarios efficiently. 

For many students, this was a rare opportunity to gain tangible and applicable skills directly from an industry practitioner. 

Overall, the workshop offered participants more than just technical knowledge—it provided confidence, clarity, and industry-aligned competencies. APU’s effort in engaging experienced professionals like Jun-Ho demonstrates the university’s commitment to equipping students with practical, hands-on learning that complements classroom theory and prepares them for impactful careers in the actuarial and analytics landscape.