Learning Excel for Accounting

Why Use Excel

The spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel has become so popular among businesses that many list proficiency as a job requirement when hiring for any accounting or administrative position. Excel spreadsheets can be emailed or transferred easily among users to share accounting information because so many companies and individuals use Excel. Other spreadsheet software is usually compatible with Excel because of its popularity, allowing the user to open and manipulate an Excel spreadsheet. Those spreadsheets not directly compatible with Excel usually contain conversion options. In short, Excel rules the workplace. Learning Excel is included in the accounting curriculum at college where students learn to create professional looking accounting documents to present to upper management and stockholders.

Excel Formulas

Learning to use Excel formulas greatly reduces accounting data input and manipulation time. This is especially true for data that is updated frequently or even periodically. Users can perform calculations such as payroll, cost accounting, and income statements, for example, in seconds using an existing Excel spreadsheet with formulas and macros already in place. Excel contains formula shortcut buttons on the toolbar for frequently used formulas such as totaling a column of data. Learning to use these buttons greatly increases the accounting user's proficiency and accuracy.

Adding Charts, Symbols, and Diagrams

Learning to add charts, symbols, and diagrams in Excel to accounting reports can be as easy as highlighting a data range and choosing from the Insert dropdown menu on the Excel toolbar. Improving your skills in adding these colorful options to your accounting reports can make reports easier to understand. Bar and pie graphs make data readily apparent and easily digestible during management, budget, and cost reduction meetings. Your Excel reports become a more effective management and accounting tool when you learn to use all of Excel's available functions and continuously improve your skills.

Help Resources Within Excel

Excel has a built in assistant function that assists users in learning the software and correcting formula errors. Whenever the user enters a formula incorrectly, the Excel formula wizard pops up with one or more suggestions, anticipating the users desired results. Experienced Excel users are able to close the wizard and manipulate the formulas manually. Microsoft offers free online tutorials to help users get the most use out of their software. The same site offers free template downloads that can be used to produce various accounting reports. Once you download templates, they remain available on your Excel menu for future use.See Resources below.

Resources

• Excel learning software
• Free tutorial
• Free Excel Training, templates, clip art and more