Auditing Excel Spreadsheets (Currently Unavailable)

Author: David H. Ringstrom

In this session Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA shows you techniques that you can use to verify the integrity of even the most complicated Excel workbook. This on-demand course demonstrates Excel's formula auditing and error checking tools, as well as techniques.

Publication Date: September 2014

Designed For
Practitioners who review spreadsheets created by others, or who wish to improve the integrity of their own spreadsheets

Topics Covered

• Quickly verify sums and totals by simply selecting cells with your mouse.
• Use the Watch window to easily monitor the ramifications of even minor changes to your workbooks.
• Learn how to trace dependents and precedents both with Excel features and keyboard shortcuts.
• Learn two ways to instantly display all formulas within a worksheet.
• Learn the keyboard shortcut that allows you to verify a specific portion of a formula.
• When a cell comment won't do, use the N function to annotate formulas within the Formula bar.
• Learn the risks of linked workbooks, determine if a workbook contains links, and see how links can hide within Excel features.
• Leverage cell comments by printing out a list of all comments within a worksheet.
• Learn how range names minimize errors, save time in Excel, serve as navigation aids, and can store information in a hidden location.
• Verify that a pivot table is actually referencing all of the data that you're expecting to be summarized.

Learning Objectives

• Recognize how to effectively and efficiently audit Excel spreadsheets
• Illustrate the mouse action which allows navigation to a specific cell that is being watched within the Watch window dialog box
• Identify the functionality of the Show Formulas feature in Excel
• Recognize how to calculate a portion of a formula, by selecting all or part of the formula
• Identify how you can determine categorically if a file contains a link
• Evaluate which tab within the Page Setup dialog box allows you to determine if comments are printed or not
• Identify which keyboard shortcut launches Excel's Visual Basic Editor
• Recognize which tab or menu the Watch Window command appears on
• Identify which keyboard or mouse shortcut allows you to navigate to each corner of selected range of cells, even if blank rows or columns are present
• Illustrate how to display the Go To dialog box, when tracing precedents or dependents to another worksheet
• Recognize where error checking rules appear under which set of Options in Excel 2007 and later
• Identify where the Evaluate Formula feature appears on the tools menu in Excel 2003 and which ribbon tab in Excel 2007 and later
• Determine which Conditional Formatting commend contains the Duplicate Values option
• Recognize the constants with respect to inputs in an Excel worksheet
• Differentiate the Apply Names command
• Identify which keystroke displays the Past Names dialog box
• Recognize which keyboard shortcut launches the Visual Basic Editor

Level
Intermediate

Instructional Method
Self-Study

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

Program Prerequisites
A basic of understanding of Excel.

Advance Preparation
None