How to Use Excel's Dollar Function

Excel's DOLLAR function converts a numeric value to a text value and applies a currency symbol. This function's name and the currency it applies are dependent upon the language settings in Excel.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Learn the following syntax for DOLLAR: DOLLAR(currency_value, decimal_round). currency_value is a numeric value, a reference to a cell which contains a numeric value or a formula that returns a numeric value. Decimal_round is an optional argument and indicates the number of digits to which to round currency_value off.

2. Study the way decimal_round is evaluated. Currency_value is rounded to the left of the decimal point if decimal_round is negative and to the right of the decimal point if decimal_round is positive. Currency_value will be rounded two places to the right of the decimal place if decimal_round is omitted.

3. Examine the way DOLLAR formats the result. The currency symbol will be added to the beginning of the string and a comma will be inserted before the third to last digit to the right of the decimal place. An additional comma will be inserted after every third digit proceeding from right to left.

4. Observe that numeric cell contents that are formatted to currency with the Cells command under the Format menu will still be numbers whereas the DOLLAR function converts numeric values to text.

5. Look at some examples of DOLLAR:
   
   =DOLLAR(1234.567) returns $1,234.57. The decimal argument is omitted so the default value of 2 is used; =DOLLAR(1234.567,-2) returns $1,200. The decimal argument is -2 so the value is rounded two places to the right.