rdonovan1

I was just wondering if anyone might happen to know how to do financal and mathematical calculations in Excel.

I am currently working on a number of projects that all require heavy computational calculations like setting up a budget and other things like that as I am trying to start several businesses and I am trying to get myself out of debt and I would like to have excel and access help with with that.

Any suggestions?


Robert.

Richzep

Hi rdonovan1. What exactly do you want to know? The impression you have given is that you don't know how to use Excel (or Access), or is it a particular formula you are stuck on?

ShosMeister

As Richzep indicated, a bit more information is needed for specific help. However, if you look, in the help and/or the list of functions in Excel, you will see there is a full set of financial functions available. There are also some add-ons that I'm sure are available.

rdonovan1

I know access, excel and the rest of Microsoft office a little bit as I have been using it since 1996, but unfortunately I just have not really learned to use it as effectively as I should.

I have been trying to read books about it and I am in the process of taking some online classes regarding the subject so that I can learn it better, but there are areas that I do get stuck on big time.

One example of this is that even though I have read and taken some online video classes on Access I still tend to get stumped at some of the littlest things in access like as to how to use the lookup wizard better. I must say that I am starting to get better at Access, but I still have problems when it comes to things like figuring out how to adjust for things like international addresses and things like that.

I guess that one area of access that I have problems with is that often times I come across a lot of changing information like for example one company with multiple locations or one company with multiple contacts. I also tend to have trouble in that area when I start trying to design my database to compensate for the fact that some of these people or companies may be outside of the United States and in that case the rules tend to change a bit and so far I have not quite figured out as to how to compensate for them.

I am also trying to use either access or excel to help me to get a better handle on all of my finances a lot better as I have a lot of bills that are outsiding and I would like to be able to use both access and excel to get a better handle on all of that by making budgeting calculations in excel for example relating to both my personal finances and to many of my business ideas that I have.

One example of this is that I am very interested in doing things like selling on eBay and I would also like to be able to get into things like Import/Export and real estate investing, but that is not exactly easy as I have limited finances at the moment and I know that if I really do want to do things like sell on eBay, then I am going to need to be able to make numerical calculations to try to determine as to what all of my total costs are but this is not easy as eBay has a sliding scale that I need to take into consideration and many of the formulas for real estate investing are kind of on the complex side.

I know that this might sound like a programming project using something like C++, Visual Basic, C#, or any number of other programming and database applications that a comercial company may have access to, but unfortunately I just do not have access to those kinds of resources and that is why I am trying to figure it all out using Microsoft Office as that will help me to get the big picture a lot better so that I can understand as what I need to be working on.

I also need to be able to setup both access and word to be able to do mail merges and to keep track of things like business contacts, social contacts, employment application and job search results and I need to be able to use it to actually create merges using that data into prewritten Cover letters, sales letters and things like that but at the moment I am just kind of stuck in how to accomplish all of things and I am hoping that maybe some people might have some good ideas and suggestions as to how I can use Office 2003 much more effectively to accomplish these tasks and to help me get the big picture a lot better.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions as to how to handle this better, then I would greatly appreciate any advice suggestions that people may have regarding this subject.

ShosMeister

If you are intending on taking this to the step of actually managing your finances for billing, payables, receivables, etc., might I suggest you look into something like the Intuit applications. They are very robust and fairly inexpensive and probably already have everything you need. You would still have the ability to export data out of there into Excel in case you wanted to manipulate it in a different way.

Just a thought as it sounds like you have a lot of work to do to manage and work your proposed businesses. Best not to spend too much time trying to manage the financials if there is something that can do the work for you - or at least help a lot.

rdonovan1

That is true. I do have a lot of work to do with it all, but I am not convinced that intuit's applications are going to solve everything as I am currently using Quicken 2007 Home and business and from what I have seen of it. It does not appear as though that is going to help me much in determining my business expenses.

Quickbooks is good for recording the sales, but it is expensive and it is not going to help me prepare the financial projections sheets ahead of time.

Things are getting rather complicated and short of programming I am not quite sure as to how to handle everything and that is why I am hoping that Microsoft Office will be able to help me out with all that, but it is very complicated and time consuming to both learn and implement in a timely fashion and finances are very limited at the moment.

I am hoping to be able to use it a lot better to manage everything and to automate many of the tasks that I need to do on the computer. I realize that it is not a perfect solution, but at least it is a start.

rdonovan1

That is a good idea, but I still need to use Excel to help me to get the big picture relating to my finances and I need to use Access and Word to help me in not only finding a job as I am looking for a job and I also need to use Word for creating my sales, business letters, resumes and other related forms and I need to use Access to help me to keep track of my job searches and to help me to keep track of my customers and prospects as well.

I would also like to use either Access or Excel to help me to organize and determine as to who all of my creditors are, when my bills are due, how much I owe, and things like that and I am hoping that someone might have some useful suggestions as to how I can do that all using Microsoft Office.

I am trying to be very creative and I am trying to make my computer (especially Microsoft Office) do most of the work for me as I am really disorganized and I am hoping to use the computer to help me get better organized and to be a lot more responsive and to keep track of things better at least until I can do things like get back into programming or to buy more custom software applications that can help me to stay on top of things a lot better.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to do this, then I would greatly appreciate it if people would let me know.

Glaswegian

Excel can indeed do many things. However, we need to know some details otherwise we cannot help. Since this sounds like a fairly large project, I would suggest you break it down into smaller pieces. Sometimes it's easier to solve small steps, one after the other, than try to solve the whole problem at once.

If I've understood correctly, you need to set up one or more record sheets. These sheets will contain formulae to perform calculations. Therefore setting up the basic layout should be your first step. Use the first row as a header row and start your data in row 2, and so on.

Excel contains many functions that will help, such as Conditional Formatting for example, as a means of highlighting cells approaching a specific date, or cells where you know you have paid a bill, etc.

Only you will know the layout that suits you best - we'll be glad to help if you become stuck with a formula or calculation or even VBA code.

ShosMeister

Another suggestion: Not to throw too much at you, but, take a look at FileMaker. It has a PC version as well as a Mac (I'm guessing you are PC) and it has some nice pre-built templates for doing a lot of what you are looking to do (contacts, billing, expenses, etc.). I have not seen the latest versions so I don't know if they have updated any of these templates, but the old ones (going as far back as FMPro 3.x) were a pretty good start. Also, the learning curve may be a bit less than Access - from what I've been told by other PC users.

Glaswegian

Good suggestion SM. I can do some Access but not much - and it did take a while to learn even that.

rdonovan1

Thank you gentlemen. That is very helpfull I never really gave filemaker much of a thought and I am going to have to look it in greater depth.

I am just wondering as to how powerfull it is and as to how well it is capable of integrating itself in with Microsoft Office applications? It may not be a perfect solution but it just may be something that may get me by in the meantime until I get things setup better.

Excel on the otherhand is something that I don't think that I am going to be able to escape without programming as many of my numerical and data handling problems are going to probably involve a lot of things like arrays and if functions. I know how to do a little bit of it in C++ but I have never really learned the GUI side of it and that is kind of a problem and that is why I have been hoping that I can do much of my data and numerical processing using Microsoft office, but the hard part is in the design and development as I often seem to have a lot of changing data and making sense of it all is not exactly an easy task and that is why I am hoping that I can make the computer do most of the work so that I can focus on more important things like people.

Glaswegian

Hi Robert

You need to take some time to work out your layout, what goes where, what calculations might be needed, that sort of thing. Perhaps one sheet for expenses, one for income, one for company contacts, one for company locations, and so on. I'm sure we can help with formulae or code to automate as much as possible, but, as I said before, the layout is really down to you. Even if you get one sheet set up, it will likely provide ideas for the other sheets.

Please post back with any questions, and we'll do our best to help.

Richzep

Well rdonovan1 you have some excellent advice here in these replies but what needs to happen first is you deciding EXACTLY what you are doing and focusing on that. You said you were starting several businesses …………. Several? I have started a business (successfully) and it takes a 110% commitment to get it right. You said you wanted to sell on ebay and then real estate (is that buying and selling property? Not sure what that is as I am English) then you said you were into import/export later you were applying for jobs ????

There are great suggestions from the others about software and along with Microsoft Office they will do everything you are asking. Another suggestion is Microsoft Accounting which I find easy to use and (naturally) integrates with Ms Office perfectly. The only thing is that I am not sure if it bolts onto Office 2003, so please check.

Glaswegian is right, you need to set up a basic layout and expand on that. Providing you remember the basic formula; Sales – (cost+expences+taxes)=profit you wont go far wrong and we can all help you with any specific formulae. Access is a bit of a beast but it is rock solid and I use it quite a bit. Once again we will all help but the questions need to be precise so we can understand what you are doing.

So have a think and get yourself a personal plan of where you are going and what you are doing and then we can help you achieve your goals and ambition. Good luck

rdonovan1

I think that you are right and that the first thing that I need to be doing considering that I am so far in over my head in debt is to start making a list of all of my debts and at the moment I am figuring that I can address that area by first entering them into Excel. I am still going to enter them into Access, but I think that Excel is a good starting point for that. Once I start entering things into Access, then I am going to have to get good at things like queries and reports as well as using the expression builder.

It's true that I do have a lot on my plate and that I am trying many different avenues to help me make money and many of my ideas do tend to overlap and that is why I am going to need to learn how to use office a lot better as I want the computer to being doing as much of the work as possible so that I can free myself up from many of the mundane tasks and that is why Excel, Access, and Word are going to be so crucial to me, but I also can not forget that I am also going to be needing to use powerpoint, publisher, and Frontpage to help express myself better and to help me to promote many of my ideas, and many of those ideas and my presentations are going to need to have solid backup points like in presenting the financial calculations and in maintaing customer and vendor information.

I guess that there is a lot for me to learn about Excel, Access and the entire MS Office Suite and I guess that applies not just to me, but to all of us. As none of us can know it all and I guess that is what makes this place so great. As it is a place that we can all come to learn and improve our skills. I just hope that we will all be able to remain civil as we get to know one another better.

Richzep

Hi rdonovan1. As Glaswegian said earlier small steps. Do one bit at a time and focus on that ONLY. Your original request asked for help with Excel and maybe Access now you are talking about PowerPoint, Publisher and Frontpage. It's all a bit like building a house, if the foundations are not robust it will fall down and that is the same with your business ideas. All that a computer does is present your ideas in a different way. There is a simple equation for this ............... crap in = crap out.

Sorry but I don't understand why you want to use Access to montor your debt situation. Access is a database and Excel is a spreadsheet. Yes you can use them the other way round but it's all a bit messy.

If you want some help laying out a spreadsheet I am more than happy to help