Maximize Excel: Financial Reporting Tricks
 

CPE Credit: 2 hours

In this presentation, author and Excel expert David H. Ringstrom, CPA, will guide you through the powerful features of Excel that can enhance your data management and visualization skills. You will learn how to effectively use built-in Excel templates and create custom workbook and worksheet templates tailored to your needs. David will also demonstrate how to create and utilize chart templates, including building a waterfall chart with VLOOKUP and setting its totals. Additionally, the session will cover the unpivoting of reports using Power Query, providing a comprehensive understanding of this essential tool across multiple segments. Finally, you’ll discover how to apply conditional formatting with data bars and icon sets, as well as create and transfer cell styles to streamline your workflow. Join us for this informative webinar to elevate your Excel proficiency!
 
David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and then live in Excel for Windows using the subscription-based Microsoft 365 version. Differences between Microsoft 365 and earlier perpetual versions of Excel (2021, 2019, and earlier) are clearly identified during the session and reinforced in the accompanying handouts. Participants also receive an Excel workbook containing many of the examples used in the presentation.
 
Who should attend:
Professionals seeking to use Microsoft Excel more effectively.
 
Topics typically covered:
 
• Preventing errors from the start by choosing from thousands of free Excel spreadsheet templates.
 
• Visualizing financial results with Excel’s Waterfall Chart feature.
 
• Storing Excel files in the correct Templates folder so they’re available when inserting new worksheets.
 
• Adding prebuilt custom worksheet templates to standardize structure and save setup time.
 
• Transforming wide reports into filterable rows using the Unpivot command in Power Query.
 
• Adding totals and filters that automatically adjust based on which rows are visible
 
• Stacking two or more queries together with an Append query in Power Query.
 
• Saving your spreadsheets as templates so users always start with a fresh copy.
 
Learning objectives:
 
• Recall which Windows Environment Command gives you fastest access to where your personal macro workbook is stored.
 
• Recall how to access the Save As Template command that creates chart templates.
 
• Identify the Power Query command used to create calculated columns.