Do you know everything about Excel?

I’ve been using it for over 20 years! I’ve learned a lot in those years, but I’m still learning new things and this blog aims to share my knowledge. Of course new versions are always adding new features, so it can be hard to keep up.

I’m a CPA and this blog will discuss Excel topics that are directly applicable to Accountants and Finance staff. The content will vary from simple to complex; from functions to formatting; from Excel 2003 to Excel 2010.

I aim to post a new blog at least weekly and since the blog allows for feedback, I can learn new stuff, as well as interact with other CPAs.

Let me know any topics you’d like me to cover.

Back to basics – the popular SUM function

It has its own shortcut icon, AutoSum and a keyboard shortcut Alt + =.

Although it is widely used there are two methods of using SUM that are not well known.

The first method refers to more that one range between the SUM brackets eg =SUM(A1:A10)+SUM(J1:J10) is more easily written as =SUM(A1:A10, J1:J10). The comma is used to separate different ranges.

The number of ranges you can include depends on the Excel version. Excel 2003 has up to 30 ranges. Excel 2007 and 2010 can handle up to 255 ranges.

Stay tuned for a 3D SUM in the next blog (no glasses required).