Excel University Blog
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Techniques
How do you ensure your workbook is accurate? One approach is to set up a structured error check sheet. My recent California CPA Magazine TBRG (May 2014) article discusses the ingredients needed to build a reliable error check sheet. Here are the relevant links: Article: Put Errors in Check Sample workbook: Download Excel File
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Hi guys! Just wanted to draw your attention to my April 2014 Journal of Accountancy article that discusses the power of mapping tables. If you’ve not experimented with this technique, it is worth checking out. In summary, a mapping table sits between the data and report sheets and enables you to translate labels and aggregate…
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As a general rule, it is a good idea to delegate as many tasks to Excel as possible. Report headers are no exception, especially for recurring-use workbooks. This post explores the functions needed to create a dynamic report header, such as “For the Period Ending December 31, 2015.” Overview Let’s assume we use the same…
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This post discusses one way to enable our lookup functions, such as VLOOKUP, to work even when the lookup values contain extra spaces. We’ll use the TRIM function to dynamically remove padding from the lookup values. Overview We’ll use a specific example to demonstrate this function. Let’s say we’ve exported a partial income statement from…
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In this post, we explore a way to pull budget values into an income statement exported from QuickBooks, and demonstrate how to handle the fact that the extract uses new columns to indent. Overview When the budget and actual data reside in the same application, creating a variance report is easy. However, when the actual…
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This post explores macro-free methods for using Excel’s data validation feature to create an in-cell drop-down that displays choices depending on the value selected in a previous in-cell drop-down. Overview As with just about anything in Excel, there are several ways to achieve the goal. This post explores three such solutions, and if you have a…
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If you have ever tried to use a VLOOKUP function with two or more criteria columns, you’ve quickly discovered that it just wasn’t built for that purpose. Fortunately, there is another function that may work as an alternative to VLOOKUP depending on what you want to return. Video Multi-Column Lookup Objective First, let’s confirm our…
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In this post, we’ll explore a formula-based approach that does not use VBA to find the last occurrence of a delimiter and use it to retrieve the lowest sub account from a Quickbooks account list in Excel. When I was doing some research for a project I had a couple of years ago, I was…
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Excel Balance Sheet This post illustrates how to create a financial statement such as a balance sheet with built-in Excel features and functions. Our primary objective is to build a workbook that efficiently pulls values from the trial balance into the balance sheet. Overview For the purpose of this post, let’s assume we have a…
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If you have ever needed to allocate an amount over time, and split the amount into monthly columns based on the number of days, you’ll quickly realize that this simple idea is tricky to actually implement. As with anything in Excel, there are many ways to accomplish this task, and this post walks through one…
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