Saturday, September 23, 2023
These Excel column charts of employment, business lending, and freight shipments show mixed signals about the current health of the US economy.

Excel Bar Charts with Economic Indicators

The Excel figure below shows three indicators of the US economy. Two show economic improvements and one doesn't. The Excel Perspective Using column charts rather than...
Excel's Linked Picture feature (Camera tool) allows us to position a table in reports while ignoring the row and column settings in the report worksheet.

Ideas about Using Excel’s Linked-Picture (Camera) Tool

Of all the Excel features that users don’t use very often, Excel's Linked Picture tool probably is the most powerful. This tool, known in...
When you document your Excel worksheets, give your readers complete information by including row and column headings in your figures.

Document Excel Worksheets with Pictures that Include Row and Column Headings

This image is a picture of a section of an Excel worksheet. Be sure to include pictures like this when you create your own...
If you're charting only your raw business data, you're missing many opportunities to give your readers useful business insight. Here are three simple tricks that will help you to turn your ordinary charts into analytical ones with much greater insight.

Three Simple Tricks to Improve Analytical Charting in Excel

For years, my Excel charts of trends used a simple idea: To gain insights about periodic data, just chart it. What else was there to...
Here's how to add sources and uses of funds to your company's Balance Sheet in Excel to get a clearer picture of how the changes affect your cash flow.

Use this Excel ‘Cash Flow Balance Sheet’ to See Sources & Uses of Funds...

For most businesses, cash flow is more important than profits and losses. The reason is clear. A profitable company with negative cash flows may not...
Beginning in Excel 2016 in Office 365, your formulas can set gaps in your line and scatter charts. Here are two ways to use the feature in your reports.

Two Business Uses for Excel’s New Chart Feature

For decades, I've been whining about the need for Excel to have some way for our formulas to specify a gap in line and...
The two Excel dashboard-like charts with May data show that consumer confidence has dropped like a rock since March. But Asia's data isn't available yet.

Dashboard-Like Excel Charts of International Consumer Confidence

The following Excel figure displays its charts in a dashboard-like format. At least, it's in a format that dashboards should use! When you use simple...
On Valentine's Day, 2018, tens of thousands of major sites warned their readers that inflation is rising. But that might not be true. These analytical Excel charts suggest a different conclusion.

What Inflation? How Excel Charts Can Help You Avoid Fake Economic News

The business news on Valentine's Day, 2018, was dominated by talk of rising inflation. A search of Google News showed 67,100 results for the...

Show Key Stats Automatically in Periodic Excel Reports

Each issue of Business Week magazine used to include several figures titled "The Stat". These figures emphasized key data related to the article on...
You can ratchet down errors in your Excel reports by using an Error Summary Table that uses conditional formatting to alert you to errors.

How to Set Up an Automatic Error-Checking System in Excel Reports

Decades ago, I worked as a cost accountant for a large company. But because our department received terrible reports, I wrote my own reports...using...

Latest Articles

Growing too fast can be dangerous to your company's health. Use the Sustainable Growth Rate ratio to track your company's financial ability to grow.

How Fast Is Too Fast?

(Originally published in Inc Magazine.) What typically tops the list of worries of the chief executive officers of fast growing companies? Financing that growth, according...

How to Smooth Data by Using the TREND Function

Years ago, I read that Prof. William S. Cleveland had suggested that data could be smoothed by calculating a centered trendline through adjacent data—a...
Two economists have introduced a new leading indicator, which predicts a recession soon. These Excel charts illustrate their insight. If they're correct, Excel users will be very busy in the months ahead.

Consumer Sentiment Suggests a 2022 Recession

In recent months, business websites have speculated about recessions and stagflation in 2022. These predictions could affect your Excel work significantly in the next few...
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