Building Effective Budget Spreadsheets in Excel

In this presentation, author and Excel expert David H. Ringstrom, CPA, will guide you through the intricacies of creating and managing budget spreadsheets using Microsoft 365 for Windows. Attendees will learn how to create named ranges from worksheet labels to enhance formula clarity, navigate efficiently with the Go To feature, and manage named ranges using the Name Manager. David will also demonstrate how to build and customize Excel tables, utilize SUMIF for matching data across columns, and protect sensitive formulas from editing. Additionally, he will cover advanced techniques such as using XLOOKUP with Excel tables and exploring budget templates to streamline your financial analysis. Join us to elevate your Excel skills and make your budgeting process more efficient!

In this presentation, author and Excel expert David H. Ringstrom, CPA, will guide you through the intricacies of creating and managing budget spreadsheets using Microsoft 365 for Windows. Attendees will learn how to create named ranges from worksheet labels to enhance formula clarity, navigate efficiently with the Go To feature, and manage named ranges using the Name Manager. David will also demonstrate how to build and customize Excel tables, utilize SUMIF for matching data across columns, and protect sensitive formulas from editing. Additionally, he will cover advanced techniques such as using XLOOKUP with Excel tables and exploring budget templates to streamline your financial analysis. Join us to elevate your Excel skills and make your budgeting process more efficient!

David is the author of “Microsoft Excel 365 for Dummies”, “Exploring Microsoft Excel’s Hidden Treasures”, and has written or co-authored six other books. He demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Excel for Microsoft 365. David draws your attention to any differences in Excel 2021, 2019 or 2016 during the presentation and in his detailed handouts. The handouts include an Excel workbook with most of the examples he uses during his demonstrations.

Excel for Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that receives periodic feature updates. Conversely, perpetually licensed versions have year numbers in their names and do not receive any feature updates.

Who Should Attend
Professionals seeking to enhance their Excel skills for budgeting, improve formula clarity, and effectively present financial data.

Topics Covered

• Transforming input sections into Excel tables to enable sorting, filtering, naming, and seamless formatting
• Saving time writing formulas by choosing named ranges with the Use In Formula command
• Mirroring named range formulas diagonally to allocate each month's sales across multiple collection periods
• Streamlining navigation and formula writing by turning worksheet labels into named ranges
• Utilizing named ranges within formulas to create built-in absolute references
• Navigating to named inputs using the Name Box and returning with the Go To command
• Expanding an Excel table and summary formulas automatically by inserting new rows and applying structured references
• Improving on older lookup methods by using the XLOOKUP function in Excel 2021 and later
• Modifying, deleting, or updating named ranges using Excel’s Name Manager
• Protecting sensitive calculations by hiding formulas and obscuring links to source data on hidden sheets
• Securing worksheet logic by protecting cells that are hidden, preventing both edits and formula visibility
• Building smarter spreadsheets by linking descriptions once and letting them update everywhere

Learning Objectives

• Recognize the functions of different Excel commands and features related to named ranges in a workbook
• Identify the feature that you can use in Excel to create named lists that expand automatically as you add more data
• Identify the error returned by the CHOOSE function when the index number exceeds the number of available value arguments

Level
Basic

Instructional Method
Group: Internet-based

NASBA Field of Study
Computer Software & Applications (2 hours)

Program Prerequisites
None

Advance Preparation
None