This page contains resources that I have found useful in my personal and professional life. It contains everything from quotes and books that I like to podcasts and videos.
If you don’t want to scroll through the entire list, you can click on one of the links below to filter the resources by specific category.
I will update this list as I discover new resources. If you have a resource you think I should add, please email me.
Webinar Feedback November 2024
Financial Functions Part Two
“This accounting webinar series is one of the best for practical CPD hours. It focuses on things we actually use in our day-to-day work, like Excel models and useful tips, instead of theory or topics we may never touch depending on your area of expertise.
It’s clear, easy to follow, and you come away with skills you can put into practice right away. Highly recommend it for anyone wanting CPD that’s actually helpful.”
10/10 C Walthew November 2024
Are you Partial to Calculations?
Excel has re-badged one of the Calculation Options in the Formulas tab – see below. This is a change relating to the new Python capabilities.
The middle option used to ignore Data Tables (a What If feature on the Data ribbon tab).
The newly named Partial option also ignores Data Tables plus any Python calculations that may take a long time to calculate.
Python calculations are done in the “cloud” and require an internet connection.
Nice feedback
It is always nice to open my email in the morning and receive these types of emails.
I have wished Peter well in his retirement.
Some nice feedback
It was a nice start to the day to receive this email this morning.
Amazon again
My book was published in 2014 and I bought the Kindle version from Amazon.
That doesn’t stop them trying to sell me the paperback version of my own book.
Algorithms never give up hope.
Intermediate series feedback
I received this email to day with feedback about last week’s Intermediate Excel series.
Dashboard Webinar feedback
It is always nice to receive feedback – this was for the recording of the Dashboard #1 session.
Macro question – Slicer solution
Slicers are a very flexible filtering option and can control multiple pivots – even power pivots!
Always happy to help.
Feedback
With my hair style I can relate to this comment.
Power Query feedback
Received this email after a recent Power Query session – some things may take a few goes to understand, that’s OK, that’s how we learn.
Conditional Format Feedback
The Conditional Format webinars I ran in August were popular and well received- 94% feedback score.
An email I received recently is shown below.
To watch the recording and download the materials click here.
Power Query
Its always great to receive e-mails like this. Power Query is a game changer.
Import PDF Update
The Power Query engine keeps getting better.
Hopefully soon it will handle PDF documents.
As at August 2020 PDF import is live in the subscription version.
Recently I learned about the passing of Chip Pearson an Excel legend.
He was so generous with his content and I had thanked him for his contributions years back but it got me thinking about thanking others who had helped me along the way.
The seventh on my Thank You list is Michael Alexander.
In more recent years some of my favorite Excel books have been written or co-written by Michael Alexander.
I like his style of writing plus he knows so much about so many different areas of Excel. He also knows a lot about Access.
I own many of Michael’s books in paperback or kindle.
Thank you for sharing your Excel knowledge in such a practical and understandable way.
My Excel skills have improved from reading your books.
Thank you Nick Melchior
Recently I learned about the passing of Chip Pearson, an Excel legend.
He was so generous with his content and I had thanked him for his contributions years back but it got me thinking about thanking others who had helped me along the way.
My sixth Thank You is not Excel related.
This gentleman is in publishing and in October 2012 he approached me to see if I was interested in writing a book on Excel. I may have said “Hell Yeah!”
Nick Melchior worked for Wiley Australia at the time and because of my CPA articles he thought I could write a book.
He asked me to put a book proposal together and he submitted it and supported it. It got through and 18 months later I had a 420 page book in my hands with my name on it as the author. A life-time dream come true.
Unfortunately shortly after the book was approved Wiley wound down its Australian operations and Nick lost his job. I will always be grateful he approached me and had faith that I could write a book.
Thank you Nick – you helped me achieve a life long dream.
Thank You CPA Australia
My first thank you messages were directed to people who helped me learn Excel.
This, my fifth Thank You, goes out to the organisation that has helped me share what I had learned with others.
Thank You CPA Australia for publishing my first Excel article, way back in May 2002. Thank you for agreeing to do a regular Excel article in late 2002. The Excel Yourself series started out with a Q & A format.
Initially the questions were based on questions I answered during training sessions. Then I started to receive questions from CPA’s from around the world. I still receive questions, but the quantity has dropped off due to Google and the many excellent online Excel forums.
As at May 2018 there have been 170 Excel Yourself articles plus 8 feature articles. Articles now appear online and each has a companion video and many have companion files.
Over the years I have also worked with CPA Australia in creating and presenting training sessions for conferences and running training sessions in regional areas. I have recently done a few podcasts, plus I have written extra posts and done videos for the INTHEBLACK website.
Thank you CPA Australia for providing a platform to help me share my Excel skills with Australian accountants from around the world.
It all started from that first article all those years ago. By the way the first article was about the Ctrl key and its shortcuts – see image below.
Thank you Bill Jelen
Recently I learned about the passing of Chip Pearson an Excel legend.
He was so generous with his content and I had thanked him for his contributions years back but it got me thinking about thanking others who had helped me along the way.
The fourth on my Thank You list is Bill Jelen (aka Mr Excel).
Through the Mr Excel website Bill has directly and indirectly helped more people than probably anyone else in Excel. The site
I have used the site’s forum to solve many problems over the years.
The forum has many Excel experts answering questions and solving problems from people from around the world.
Bill has written many books covering most of Excel’s topics.
I own a few of his books and have read many more. He tells it like it is and is not afraid to say if he disagrees with changes made to Excel.
Thank you Bill for being so generous with the your knowledge and for your huge contribution to the Excel community.
My career is better for having read your books and used your website – thank you.
Thank You Matthew Harris
Recently I learned about the passing of Chip Pearson an Excel legend.
He was so generous with his content and I had thanked him for his contributions years back, but it got me thinking about thanking others who had helped me along the way.
My third thank you goes out to Matthew Harris. Here is a link to his website
Back in the 90’s I taught myself VBA using his book – Teach Yourself Visual Basic For Applications in 21 Days. It has pride of place on my bookshelf.
The book really made a difference to the way I used Excel and opened my eyes to so many possibilities.I found I really enjoyed programming when working in VBA and Excel.
I have learned a lot since, but his book gave me a great grounding in VBA.
Thank you so much Matthew for your book, it has made a huge difference in my life.
Thank You Jeff Robson
Recently I learned about the passing of Chip Pearson an Excel legend.
He was so generous with his content and I had thanked him for his contributions years back but it got me thinking about thanking others who had helped me along the way.
My second thank you goes out to Jeff Robson from Access Analytic.
Jeff hired me as an Excel consultant way back in 2006. He asked me if I knew someone who could do the job and I said I did – me!
We had met a few years earlier and kept in touch. We had a few things in common, a love of Excel and a similar hair line and when I started we even drove the same car, a Hyundai Accent.
We worked together for 4 years and my live is better now because we did.
An extract of the thank you email is shown below.
Thank you John Walkenbach
Last week I learned about the passing of Chip Pearson an Excel legend.
He was so generous with his content and I had thanked him for his contributions years back but it got me thinking about thanking others who had helped me along the way.
The first is John Walkenbach.
John’s books got me started in Excel.
He has written about most versions and most topics on Excel.
I sent him an email – an extract is shown below.
Webinar Feedback
Its great to get feedback like this. Webinars can be an effective alternative to face to face training.
Amazon
Bless their algorithmic hearts, Amazon are still trying to sell me my book.
It was released four years ago in April.
Get & Transformation
Power Query morphed into Get & Transform and now in the latest Excel 2016 subscription release Get & Transform has expanded on the Data Ribbon.
Top Ten
Woohoo – my book made it to 3 on the top ten e-books in the CPA Library.
Filter in Power BI Data View
Filtering coming soon to the Data view in Power BI. Fingers crossed this gets done soon – patience everyone.
Old Article
Some articles make a greater impression than others. I was recently asked about a magazine article from August 2011.
Someone had changed jobs and needed to be reminded of the rolling 13 month technique.
The congratulations relate to 15 years of Excel Yourself!
PDF and Power BI
Looks like Power BI will soon be able to extract data from tables in PDF documents.
Great to see requests being acted on.
An Avo Chart
I wonder if we can get one of these on Power BI?
Saw this on the website below and liked it – I also like Avocados.
A recent email from CPA Australia listed my Excel book (Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants) in the top 5 of all books – see list below.
Members of CPA Australia can access electronic books for FREE via ProQuest – links are below.
You will need to log in to the CPA Australia site to be able to access them.
Which books have your fellow accountants found most helpful in advancing their careers? You may find the results surprising, with their top five covering everything from Excel and analytics to forecasting and getting your own way. Try these ebooks for yourself.
