For business users of Microsoft Excel.
For business users of Microsoft Excel.

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An Excel dashboard report displayed using Amazon's Kindle DX.Kindle DX: A New Era
For Excel Reporting?


Amazon.com says their new Kindle DX is great for reading newspapers, textbooks, and other commercial publications. But the DX also could offer Excel users a huge advantage.

 

It's possible that the Kindle DX could transform the way that Excel users deliver dashboard reports, standard Excel reports, textual material, and many other types of management information.

Plug-N-Play Excel dashboard report linked to an Excel database.New! Excel Database
& PNP Dashboard


This is our most advanced Excel Plug-N-Play dashboard ever. Link your Excel dashboard reports to a database. Automatically sync your charts' Y axes. Automatically scale your data. Use any currency. Learn more now.

Use SUMPRODUCT to Find
The Last Item in an Excel List

Suppose you have a Sequential List of items. And suppose you want to show the date of the first and last entry in the list. How would you do it?

This question isn't limited to dates, by the way. Your list could display numbers or text instead. How would you return information about the last occurrence of each item in the list?

Use SUMPRODUCT, of course.

Keep Your Job: Avoid Layoffs
With Instant Job Control


Times are tough these days. Companies around the world are laying off great people. But the good news is that Excel users have the power to take control over their destinies in ways that many of their other co-workers can't.

These low-cost samplers let you test Excel dashboards easily.

New! Low-Cost
PNP Samplers


This is our lowest-cost Excel Plug-N-Play dashboards ever. Based on Plug-N-Play #1, these Samplers are created especially for people somewhat new to Excel.

Control Your Cost Lag Loop
To Help Survive the Recession


The world's economy is in recession, with no end in sight. Some companies are in desperate shape. Others are merely hurting.

Whatever your company's condition, it's a good idea to take stock of your business to figure out what you can do now to make your company healthy even if business gets worse.

You'll survive the downturn more easily if you master the cost-lag loop.

The Excel 2007 Market Share


(Updated Feb-09) Excel 2007 is significantly different from earlier versions of Excel. So we wondered how widely used it is among its business users. That is, what's the Excel 2007 market share?

Six months after Excel 2007 was introduced, we started to ask which version of Excel you use. You now can see the current results of our poll here.

If you haven't voted in the poll, please do so now. You can vote near the top of this page.

Excel 2007's Ribbon Hurts
Productivity, Survey Shows


(Updated Feb-09) Excel 2007's 'Ribbon' is the most significant change that Microsoft has ever made to Excel's user interface. We wanted to find out what Excel users in business think of that change.

If you haven't taken this short survey. Please do so now. Tell us what you think about Excel's Ribbon.

The preliminary results of this survey are in, and the results are clear. You can see the results here.

Add Cash Flow Information
To Your Excel Balance Sheets


If you prepare balance sheets in Excel, you can make them a lot more useful to your readers. Just add Sources and Uses information to your ordinary balance sheets.

This simple improvement tells readers how each balance sheet item has changed, and how those changes have affected cash flow.

Predict Business Bankruptcy

The Z Score is the best-known analytical tool for predicting the likelihood of business bankruptcy.

We show you how to calculate Z-Scores with Excel. 

 

Excel BI

Costs are rising. Sales are falling Credit is limited. Taxes are going up. We offer five reasons that Excel users will find solutions, if they exist.

Track Receivables With Excel

Do you monitor your receivables with the AR Collection Period, also called "Days Sales Outstanding in Receivables" (DSO)?

Learn why DSO fails and how Excel can give you more accurate results, results that also can improve your cash flow forecast.

 

Raise or Cut Prices?

Use this formula to learn whether your price change will help your gross profits or hurt them. It will help you to brainstorm your pricing strategy more easily.

The First Spreadsheet Dashboard

Charley Kyd created the first spreadsheet dashboard more than 25 years ago using Lotus 1-2-3. Every line in every chart consists of text in cells. See examples of the first spreadsheet dashboard report, and read a brief description of how it was created. 

 

CyclePlot Charts

If you have seasonal sales, or other measures of performance, Cycle Plots can offer greater insight about your performance than traditional charting techniques.

Returning Items from a List

One easy way to return an item from an Excel database is to add a dropdown list box to your spreadsheet. But suppose you want to return additional information about that item, how do you do it? We show you how.

 

Database Reports

Do you create periodic reports using data stored in an Excel databases? We show an easy way to let Excel formulas do the work.

Weighing Your Debt Load

Is debt your enemy or your friend? It's your friend if you're making money on the cash you borrow. The EOA ratio compares directly to the interest rate on your debt. When your EOA exceeds your interest rate, you're making money from your debt.

 

Growing Too Fast?

Is your company growing faster than it can afford? The Sustainable Growth Rate can help you manage your company's financial ability to grow.

Pablum Dashboards

Is your company spending thousands of dollars for business dashboards that serve up your performance measures like pablum?

 

Stuff We Use

Here are some products and services we use on our own computers. Our first recommendation: Remote Data Backup for Businesses

Benford's Law & Planning

Unless you're a public accountant, you probably haven't experimented with Benford's Law.

Auditors sometimes use this fascinating statistical insight to uncover fraudulent accounting data. But it might reveal a useful strategy for investing in the stock market. And it might help you to improve the accuracy of your budgets and forecasts.

 

Array Alternative

SUMPRODUCT offers great power to summarize lists of data in Excel worksheets. It works somewhat like array formulas, but without the complications.

Unfortunately, Excel's help topic ignores the real power of this function.

Array Formulas

Excel array formulas can summarize Excel data quickly and easily.

We explain the most powerful and flexible approaches. The most powerful method is to use Excel arrays, which can give you summaries using any number of criteria.

 

Future Values

A reader asks how to calculate Future Values from cash flows that aren't necessarily periodic.

We show how to calculate both Future and  Present non-periodic values.


 
 

What's your
greatest Excel challenge?
 
 
 


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—SURVEY—
How do you like
Excel 2007's
new Ribbon?
Excel 2007 has a completely new user interface, the Ribbon. Some Excel users love it; some hate it.

Tell us what YOU think about Excel's Ribbon!

 
 
—POLL—
Which version of Excel do you use?
If you haven't told us your version, or if you've changed the version of Excel you use, please let us know.

Which version of Excel do you use?

Classic Excel (97-2003)
New Excel (2007)
Both versions

See results here.