TABLE OF CONTENTS. About the Companion Website 1. Introduction 3

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1 TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Companion Website 1 Introduction 3 Chapter 1: Management Accounting and Excel 5 ASSUMPTIONS 5 THE GOAL OF REPORTING 6 WHY USE EXCEL? 7 THE GOAL OF THIS BOOK 8 MONTHLY MANAGEMENT REPORTS 8 MACRO POLICY 9 Chapter 1: Test Your Knowledge 11 Chapter 1: Solution and Suggested Responses 13 Chapter 2: Building Reporting Models 15 NEEDS ANALYSIS 16 SCOPE DEFINITION 16 DESIGN 17 CONSTRUCTION 17 TESTING 18 OPERATION 18 MAINTENANCE 18 TIME, EFFORT, AND COST 18 PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS 19 Chapter 2: Test Your Knowledge 21 Chapter 2: Solutions and Suggested Responses 23 Chapter 3: Building Tips 25 DISPLAY TIPS 26 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 37 MOUSE SHORTCUTS 44 KEYBOARD AND MOUSE SHORTCUTS 53 GENERAL TIPS 59 Chapter 3: Test Your Knowledge 69 Chapter 3: Solutions and Suggested Responses 71 Chapter 4: Design and Structure 75 STRUCTURE = FLEXIBILITY 75 MODULAR SHEET DESIGN 76 STANDARDISED REPORT LAYOUT 78 TABLE-BASED SYSTEMS 80 SPREADSHEET BEST PRACTICES 82 Chapter 4: Test Your Knowledge 85 Chapter 4: Solutions and Suggested Responses 87 v Table of Contents

2 Chapter 5: Setting the Foundation 89 TERMINOLOGY 90 DATA RULES 90 DATA STRUCTURES 90 FORMAT AS TABLE 92 DATA CLEANSING TECHNIQUES 96 EXTERNAL DATA 103 Chapter 5: Test Your Knowledge 107 Chapter 5: Solutions and Suggested Responses 109 Chapter 6: Pivot Tables (Do-It-Yourself Reporting) 111 THE PROS AND CONS OF A PIVOT TABLE 111 CREATING A PIVOT TABLE 114 POWERPIVOT 135 Chapter 6: Test Your Knowledge 137 Chapter 6: Solutions and Suggested Responses 139 Chapter 7: Tools of the Trade: Summing Functions 141 RANGE NAMES 141 USING CELLS AND RANGES IN FORMULAS 142 THE HUMBLE SUM FUNCTION 147 ADVANCED SUM AND 3D FORMULAS 147 SUBTOTALING 152 THE SUBTOTAL FUNCTION 153 THE AGGREGATE FUNCTION 157 FUNCTION WIZARD 159 CONDITIONAL SUMMING 159 THE SUMIF FUNCTION 164 SUMIF USES 167 HELPER CELLS 168 THE SUMIFS FUNCTION 169 THE SUMPRODUCT FUNCTION 171 Chapter 7: Test Your Knowledge 187 Chapter 7: Solutions and Suggested Responses 189 Chapter 8: Accessories: Other Reporting Functions and Features 191 HELPER CELLS 191 LOGIC FUNCTIONS 193 THE IF FUNCTION 195 THE AND AND OR FUNCTIONS 200 LOOKUP FUNCTIONS 203 THE VLOOKUP FUNCTION 204 THE HLOOKUP FUNCTION 208 AN ALTERNATIVE TO VLOOKUP 209 THE INDEX AND MATCH FUNCTIONS 210 THE MATCH FUNCTION 210 vi Table of Contents

3 THE INDEX FUNCTION 212 THE INDEX-MATCH COMBINATION 214 ERROR HANDLING FUNCTIONS 215 THE IFERROR FUNCTION 216 HANDLING SPECIFIC ERRORS 217 TEXT-BASED FUNCTIONS 221 THE TEXT FUNCTION 222 LEFT AND RIGHT FUNCTIONS 224 THE MID FUNCTION 225 FLEXIBLE TEXT MANIPULATIONS 226 THE SEARCH FUNCTION 227 THE LEN FUNCTION 228 FLEXIBLE SPLITTING 228 THE SUBSTITUTE FUNCTION 230 CONVERTING TEXT TO NUMBERS 231 DATE FUNCTIONS 232 THE DATE FUNCTION 232 OTHER USEFUL FUNCTIONS 234 ARRAY FORMULAS 244 Chapter 8: Test Your Knowledge 253 Chapter 8: Solutions and Suggested Responses 255 Chapter 9: Range Names 257 ADVANTAGES 258 DISADVANTAGES 258 CREATING A RANGE NAME 258 USING RANGE NAMES 262 NAME MANAGER 265 NAMING A RANGE 266 CREATING NAMES AUTOMATICALLY 272 NAME INTERSECTIONS 277 DYNAMIC RANGE NAMES 278 USING STRUCTURE IN RANGE NAMES 283 INDIRECT AND RANGE NAMES 287 LISTING RANGE NAMES 288 Chapter 9: Test Your Knowledge 289 Chapter 9: Solutions and Suggested Responses 291 vii Table of Contents

4 Chapter 10: Maintenance Issues 293 MAINTENANCE INSTRUCTIONS 293 THE ADVANTAGES OF USING TABLES 293 COMMON ISSUES 295 ROLLING THE YEAR 295 WORKING WITH DAYS 296 SIMPLIFYING THE INTERFACE BY USING CONTROLS 298 Chapter 10: Test Your Knowledge 309 Chapter 10: Solutions and Suggested Responses 311 Chapter 11: Choosing the Right Format 313 COLOUR BLINDNESS 313 FORMAT PAINTER 314 LESS IS MORE 314 FONTS 314 CLEAR AND START AGAIN 315 THE FORMAT CELLS DIALOG BOX 315 STYLES 329 CONDITIONAL FORMATTING 331 PRINTING ISSUES 351 Chapter 11: Test Your Knowledge 357 Chapter 11: Solutions and Suggested Responses 359 Chapter 12: Picture Perfect: Charting Techniques 361 CHART VERSUS GRAPH 362 CHART BASICS 362 CHARTS FOR REPORTS 364 AUTOMATING CHARTS 365 MIXING CHART TYPES 370 DUAL-AXIS CHARTS 371 LABELING HIGHS AND LOWS 376 TRENDLINES AND MOVING AVERAGES 378 PLOTTING THE VARIANCE 379 DASHBOARD TECHNIQUES 380 TEXT IN A CHART 394 THE DATA SERIES FORMULA 394 BEFORE AND AFTER CHARTS 396 Chapter 12: Test Your Knowledge 399 Chapter 12: Solutions and Suggested Responses 401 viii Table of Contents

5 Chapter 13: Quality Control:Report Validation 403 VALIDATIONS 404 ERROR TRACKING 406 IDENTIFYING NEW CODES 412 CONDITIONAL FORMATTING 413 SUGGESTED VALIDATION STRUCTURE 413 REASONABLENESS CHECKS 415 Chapter 13: Test Your Knowledge 417 Chapter 13: Solutions and Suggested Responses 419 Chapter 14: Case Study One: Month and Year-to-Date Reporting 421 SCENARIO 421 DATA REQUIREMENTS 422 PROCESSES 422 STRUCTURE 423 DESIGN 424 REPORT LAYOUT 424 THE CREATION PROCESS 425 THE REPORTS 430 Chapter 14: Test Your Knowledge 445 Chapter 14: Solution and Suggested Responses 447 Chapter 15: Case Study Two: 12-Month Reporting 449 SCENARIO 449 DATA REQUIREMENTS 449 PROCESSES 451 STRUCTURE 451 DESIGN 451 THE CREATION PROCESS 452 THE REPORTS 457 Chapter 15: Test Your Knowledge 475 Chapter 15: Solution and Suggested Responses 477 Chapter 16: Final Thoughts 479 LAST WORDS 479 Chapter 16: Test Your Knowledge 481 Chapter 16: Solution and Suggested Responses 483 Glossary 485 Index 487 Final Exam Copy ix Table of Contents