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August 2025
25
Aug

Different Data Analysis Functions In Excel
  • Lynn Fountain, CPA
  • 1568
Almost every big and small accounting firm uses Excel as a very powerful data analysis tool. There are at least hundreds of functions in excel which are used for data analysis. We should know how to use the right feature to get right data analysis. Here are some of the simple yet powerful features of excel to use to analyse data. Sort – This feature is used to sort excel data on one or multiple columns in ascending or descending order. Filter: if you only want to display record which meets with the certain criteria then you can use this feature. Conditional Formatting: It helps you to highlight cells with certain color, depending upon the value of cells. Charts: It is very easy to create chart to display more than a sheet full of numbers. Tables: Analyse excel data quickly and easily with the help of this feature. PivotTables: The most powerful feature of excel if PivotTable. It allows you to extract substantial data from large dataset. What-If Analysis – It allows users to try out different values for scenarios for formulas. Solver: It uses techniques from operations research to find optimal solutions for all kinds of decision problems. Analysis ToolPak : It is an add-in program that provides data analysis tool for statistical, financial, and engineering data analysis. Data Model : It is used to integrate data from multiple tables in the current workbook or from the imported data or from the data sources connected to the workbook through data connections. Formulas – Here are some list of formulas that an excel data analyst frequently uses. CONCATENATE LEN COUNTA DAYS/NETWORKDAYS SUMIFS AVERAGEIFS VLOOKUP FIND/SEARCH IFERROR COUNTIFS LEFT/RIGHT RANK MINIFS MAXIFS SUMPRODUCT
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19
Aug

How To Do Payroll In Excel - Simple Steps
  • Fedrica Hanks, Accountant
  • 1966
There are several options to carry out payroll but when you are having small-medium business and you need a powerful and cost-effective tool then you should use excel for it. Using excel formulae and functions, it is easy to carry out the payroll process. The Payroll Process includes – Collecting employee data. Evaluating total hours worked. Computing pay and deductibles tax. Here you calculate employee payroll as well as each penny you spend on them. For Payroll management, excel is one of the best tool as it is versatile and easy to use. Excel comes up with several functions that allow for simple calculations within seconds. Why use Excel for your payroll process? Here are few reasons which make to use Excel for payroll. 1. Collecting and Tracking of Employee Data - Excel provides ease and many options in storing and managing employee data. You can store data in alphabetical order, by particular dates and other options. It provides control over how you manage and manipulate data. It has the advantage of not making mistakes in payroll information management 2. Visual presentation - You can represent data visually in excel and this is one of the biggest pros of doing payroll in excel. When you are dealing with figures and calculations, you can represent it in charts, diagrams, or graphs. 3. Accuracy - It’s been a complex process to deal with payroll figures and when you are having higher number of transaction then it also becomes difficult to track and analyze it, but data manipulation is simple with this tool just because of functions and formulas available with excel. It’s not only easy to insert numbers into specific locations but also excel performs automatic calculations. Steps to create Payroll in Excel – Step 1 – Launch Excel blank spreadsheet. Step 2 – In this newly created file, you will store employee payroll information then you need to create some field (column) that holds values. Create column name in the following hierarchy – Column A – Employee Name. Column B - Hourly pay – contains employee’s pay rate per hour without any currency symbol. Column C – Total number of hours worked by an employee in a day. Column D - Overtime rate per hour without any currency symbol. Column E - Total Number of Overtime by an employee in a day. Column F – Gross pay – Payable amount without any deductibles. Column G – Income Tax – Tax payable on Gross Pay. Column H - Other Deductibles - Deductibles other than Income Tax such as EPF, PT, TDS, etc. Column I – Net Pay – Payment received in hand by an employee. Step 3 – After deciding parameters relevant to your business, now it’s time to make entries. Now add the data according to the column with no formula.Step 4 – Gross pay calculation – it is easy to calculate it in excel simply by using SUM and PROD function. Step 5 – calculate Income Tax- in order to calculate it, first check how much percentage of tax your employee pays on the total gross pay. Income Tax is always calculated on Gross Pay. Step 6 – Compute deductions - Here mention deductibles for a particular employee (if any) like premium of health/life insurance, professional taxes etc. Step 7 – Now, finally it comes to Net Pay. It is the amount that comes after all the deductions from Gross Pay. This is how we create Payroll in Excel. If you are not so comfortable with the excel formulas and functions to make payroll management. You can learn to analyze payroll data in excel.
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11
Aug

Best Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Lynn Fountain, CPA
  • 1678
While using Excel, using keyboard shortcuts is one of the basic excel skills that save lots of time every day. There are more than 500 keyboard shortcuts, but not all of those are important. Here are some important and useful shortcuts. Basic Keys Key Description Control + Up Arrow move to the top end Control + Down Down Arrow move to the down end Control + Right Right Arrow move to the right end Control + Left Left Arrow move to the left end Control + C copy Control + V paste Control + X cut Control + S save Control + P print Control + F4 save as Control + Z undo the last action Control + Y redo the last action Control + A select all Control + Spacebar select entire column Shift + Spacebar select entire row Delete delete F2 edit cell Esc close edit mode F1 help Menu Button right-click menu Formatting Keys Key Description Ctrl + B bold Ctrl + I italic Ctrl + U underline Ctrl + ! open format menu Ctrl + Shift + @ format as time value Ctrl + Shift + # format as a date Ctrl + Shift + $ format as currency Ctrl + Shift + % format as percentage Alt → H → O → I / A adjust cell width to content Alt → H → B → A apply border Alt H F C change font color Alt H H change cell color Alt H A C align text to the center Alt H M C merge cell Alt H W wrap text Alt H F F change font style Alt H F S change font size Alt H L N add conditional formatting Alt H T format as table Alt H J style cell Insert & Layout Keys Key Description Alt N V insert pivot table Alt N T insert table Alt N P insert picture Alt N S H insert shape Alt N S C insert charts Alt N I insert hyperlink Alt N X insert text box Alt N J insert object Alt N U insert symbol Alt N H insert header & footer Alt N Z K open sparklines Alt W V F hide/unhide formula bar Alt W V H hide/unhide heading Alt W V G hide/unhide gridlines Alt W Q C change zoom Alt W F F freeze pane Alt W F I page break view Alt W F C custom view Alt W F P page layout view Alt W A arrange windows Functions and Data Shortcuts Key Description Shift + F3 insert function Alt M R recently used functions Alt M I financial functions Alt M L logical functions Alt M T text functions Alt M E date and time functions Alt M O lookup functions Alt M G math and trig functions Alt M Q more functions Alt + = auto sum Alt M N name manager Alt D F F add filters Alt A V V insert data validation Alt A M remove duplicates Alt A R A refresh all Alt A E open text to column Alt A G group rows and columns Alt A U ungroup rows and columns Alt A B add subtotal Alt A S S open sort Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts Key Description Alt H O R rename a worksheet Alt + F1 insert the default chart
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02
Aug

Maximizing Screen Space In Excel
  • Nicholas Branson, CPA
  • 765
It is remarkable how many repetitive actions we carry out in Excel spreadsheets, such as scrolling a worksheet from side-to-side when a couple of columns are off to the side of your screen. Commands on Excel’s View menu enable you to force an area of a worksheet to exactly fit onto your screen. A common scenario is a worksheet with twelve months of data, along with a total column. You might be able to see all the columns at once, or let’s say on a laptop screen you might see the data through November, and then have to scroll to the right to see December and the annual total. One screen-sizing approach involves using the Zoom Slider at the lower right-hand corner of the application window, as shown in Figure 1. I tend to turn this off because I find that I bump this control accidently when aiming for the horizontal scroll bar, sometimes resulting in microscopic print on-screen. To do so, right-click on the feature and then turn it off by way of the Customize Status Bar menu that appears. You can also use Zoom to Selection to make text larger. If you select a range of cells that is smaller than what you can see on screen, Excel will zoom in to make the selection fill your screen. Ostensibly, the Zoom Slider is a valid approach for fitting more information on the screen, but it is easy for this feature to run amok. Instead, the Zoom to Selection command will enable you to maintain better control: Select the cells that you wish to see onscreen, such as column A through N. Activate Excel’s View menu. Click Zoom to Selection. As shown, Excel will shrink everything to exactly fit onscreen. Click the 100% command on Excel’s View menu if you bump the Zoom Slider or wish to reverse the effects of Zoom to Selection. Figure 1: Excel’s Zoom to Selection command enables you to squeeze more information onto your screen.
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