Fixing the UNIQUE Function

The UNIQUE function in Excel has a problem when it comes to handling blank cells. Blank cells are treated as zero and if you have a blank cell and a zero in a range then UNIQUE will return two zeros. Also, if a cell has a function that returns a blank cell, then that is treated differently than a blank cell. Let’s create a custom function to fix UNIQUE’s blank cell blind spot.

Improvement to Excel’s HYPERLINK Function

Excel’s HYPERLINK function is not easy to use. You need to know a few of its secrets to get it to do what you want. Unfortunately, you can’t replicate the HYPERLINK function in a custom function, so we can’t improve it. But the next best thing is to simplify creating the reference you need as the first argument in the HYPERLINK function.

Benford’s Law in Excel – Part Two

Benford’s law is used in auditing to identify data sets that may have been manipulated or adjusted. In my previous post I created a report to analyse a data set based on Benford’s Law. In this post we will create a single formula to create the report and then convert that into a custom function.

Benford’s Law in Excel – Part One

Benford’s law is used in auditing to identify data sets that may have been manipulated or adjusted. In actual data sets when reviewing values the 1st digit of the values tends to follow a predetermined frequency. For example, roughly 30% of the values should start with a 1.