Excel Tips

Reports are crucial to your work, aren't they? Power Query is a valuable tool for importing many types of data into Excel to help you create these reports.

However, it does have limitations.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to address one of Power Query’s key shortcomings: user interactions.

By using staging queries, reference techniques and range names, users can dynamically filter data within Power Query based on user-selected criteria.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

0:17 – About the variable Power Query function 3:37 – Implementing the query function 5:46 – Using a range name for a table 7:07 – Using a query to read the variable input 9:43 – Refreshing the power query 10:11 – Recap and use cases

Listen now to learn how to add a user interaction into Power Query.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Looking to improve your report-building skills? If so, this is the episode for you.

Uncover tips on how to leverage multiple Excel features to create a system that effortlessly hides blank and zero rows in your reports.

Also in this episode, you’ll discover the subtotal function’s superpower and learn how you can use it to help identify if a filter needs reapplying.

You can use these handy skills to boost your report-writing efficiency. 

For fast access, use these timestamps:

0:20 – Using formatted tables instead of macros for hiding rows 2:38 – About the example and tutorial file 5:10 – Applying the filter and slicer 6:35 – The subtotal function superpower

Listen now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Looking for ways to gain deeper insights from your sales and costs data in Excel?

This episode explores the power of heat maps, a data visualisation technique often used for climate data, but equally effective for business analysis.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

0:15 – Using heat maps for sales and cost information. 1:59 – Colour scales options and settings. 5:15 – Conditional formatting and top and bottom rules. 7:27 – Using the large and small function.

Listen now for insights into this multi-functional Excel tool.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

There's a misconception that Excel macros are outdated or unnecessary. In this episode we set the record straight and explore their continued value.

Delve into three practical macros that can streamline various tasks in your Excel workflow.

More importantly, you’ll come away with the knowledge to decide when creating a macro makes sense for optimising your efficiency.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

Listen now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Tune in to discover how mastering custom functions can help simplify two complex issues with Excel formulas.

Improve your problem-solving skills by harnessing the power of custom functions. For fast access, use these timestamps:

Listen now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

You can catch up on a previous episode that explained custom functions. There is also an accompanying article to this podcast episode.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Do you want to improve your dashboard-creating skills in Excel? Look no further.

This episode has all the expert tips you need to know using dynamic arrays to create a dashboard.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

About the report template and using dynamic arrays - 0:17 About dynamic arrays - 0:55 Dynamic charts and dashboards using dynamic arrays - 1:33 Variance charts and budget comparisons - 2:34 Building the tables and chats - 4:26 Additional resources 10:49

Tune in now. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

You can listen to the first two in this dynamic arrays three-part series at the Excel Tips home page.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Don’t miss this episode, the second in a three-part series that explains how you can use the power of dynamic arrays in report building. Learn how to review a report that’s using dynamic arrays to create an automated month and year-to-date report. 

For fast access, use these timestamps:

About the report template and using dynamic arrays 00:18 Range names for formatted tables 2:35 Budget layout and structure setup 3:34 The offset function 4:15 The filter function 5:11 SUM IF S function 6:54 Using the wildcard character 7:49 Variance calculations 8:41 The ABS function 9:39 Additional resources 10:49

Tune in now to learn more about this handy Excel subscription version functionality. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Are you an accountant or finance professional looking to enhance your daily workflows? 

Don’t miss this episode, which delves into the exciting capabilities of dynamic arrays, empowering you to effortlessly build automated reports.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

The tutorial example report, and companion file 1:50 Dynamic array calculation and spill ranges 3:12 Referring to a spill range 4:05 Building a structure to avoid spill errors 6:59 Dynamic array formula tips 8:22 Benefits of range formulas in limiting formulas 8:47 Changing table structure to suit ranges and reporting 9:35 Overview of the benefits of dynamic arrays 10:31

Tune in now to learn more about this exciting addition to Excel’s subscription version. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

For accounting and finance professionals, it’s vital that you keep up-to-date with changes to Microsoft Excel functionality. 

This episode explains what you need to know, including the latest changes to three Excel functions, and opening and working with CSV files. 

Tune in now for insights that will help enhance your productivity in 2024.  

For fast access, use these timestamps:

Importing and using CSV files – 0:38 MAP, SCAN and REDUCE functions – 3:10 Using the MAP function with ranges and LAMBDA – 4:01 Using the SCAN and REDUCE functions – 9:16

Tune in now. Read the companion article here.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Do you want to improve your Excel skills in 2024? Start the new year on a positive note with these essential tips that can help you master a couple of Excel techniques together. 

In this episode, we show you how to build custom lists and use range names. 

For fast access, use these timestamps:

Custom lists explained – 0:29 Creating custom lists – 1:34 Automating lists with range names – 4:08 Creating range names (method 1) – 4:52 Transpose function – 7:30 The downside of using range names (method 1) – 7:59 Using formatted tables for range names (method 2) – 8:33 Array based range names – 10:08 Special values keyboard shortcut – 11:37 Examples using the range names – 12:43 Using helper cells and the index function – 13:45 Repeating the range name sequence – 14:48 Recap and benefits of automated custom lists 15:46

Tune in now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Starting a new role in accounting and finance? We understand it can be stressful as you try to make a good first impression. 

This Excel Tips episode is specially designed with your first 100 days in mind, to help you hit the ground running. 

For fast access, use these timestamps:

Interface setup – 1:29 Pin files and folders and quick access – 2:43 Using checklists – 3:50 INstruction sheets – 5:10 Notes and comments – 6:24 Setting up hyperlinks – 7:40 Using colours in Excel – 8:58 Centralise inputs – 9:54 Validations – 10:25 Save-as and copy-sheets for monthly reporting – 11:51 Tips recap – 13:08

Tune in now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

If you’re looking for ways to display diverse types of data using Excel’s charts and visualisation tools, this podcast, loaded with tips, will show you how.

The example in this episode compares one month's data from this financial year with the corresponding month from the previous fiscal year.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

Column charts: 2:13 Variance charts: 3:22 Recommended charts: 4:23 Cleaning up charts: 5:24 Moving Labels: 6:58 Sparkline charts: 7:51 Waterfall (bridge) charts: 8:44 Conditional format - data bar: 9:45 Making charts for accessibility: 11:01 Conditional format – icons: 11:28 Emojis 😍: 11:28

Tune in now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Do you want an Excel edge? 

Whether you're a seasoned pro or starting out, master these 10 new and revamped features to help streamline your workflow and boost your spreadsheet efficiency. 

For fast access, use these timestamps:

Web based version of Excel: 0:30 Position of the blanks option in filter dropdown: 3:02 Power Query import updates: 4:13 CTRL key and mouse updates: 4:54 Formula bar value display: 6:06 Office Scripts: 7:14 Vertical sheet tabs: 9:25 Notes and threaded comments: 10:31 Notes and threaded comments continued Show changes: 12:38

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au 

Excel is constantly evolving and improving, and it's crucial to stay up to date with all the latest changes. This companion podcast is here to help you sort quickly through the most relevant function updates. 

Are you ready to take your Excel skills to the next level? Tune in now.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

0:29 Dynamic arrays

2:29 XLOOKUP

3:19 LET function

3:49 LAMBDA

4:56 TEXTAFTER, TEXTBEFORE and TEXTSPLIT

6:15 BYROW and BYCOL

7:00 the IMAGE function

7:45 VSTACK and HSTACK

8:31 TAKE and DROP functions

10:03 CHOOSEROWS and CHOOSECOLUMNS

10:34 DAX functions

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Unleash your Excel skills by using the valuable functionality of formulas.

Go straight to episode sections:

The formula bar – 1:06 Starting formulas – 1:41 Using functions – 2:58 Function arguments – 4:09 Relative and absolute cell and range references – 7:15 The calculation sequence – 9:46 Parentheses (brackets) – 10:39 Colours in formulas – 12:37 Entering cell and Range references – 13:50 The Function Wizard – 15:57 Formula auditing – 17:01 IF error – 19:12 REF error – 20:01 Dynamic arrays and the SPILL error – 20:26 

 Tune in now to level up with these expert shortcuts and techniques.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Are you a university student or recent graduate? Are you looking to gain a competitive edge in the job market, specifically in the fields of accounting and finance? 

Then this episode is what you need! Packed with practical advice tailored to your needs, it will equip you with valuable Excel tips that will enhance your employability as you move into your first accounting or finance role.

Delve into the world of Excel and hear expert insights on how to leverage this powerful spreadsheet tool. Tune in now and unlock the secrets to succeeding with Excel. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Unlock your Excel efficiency with these 22 time-saving shortcuts for everyday work tasks. 

Tune in now to  supercharge your productivity.

Timestamps:

Files and folders: 1:05 Quick access toolbar: 4:17 Keyboard types: 7:20 Keyboard shortcuts: 9:06 Save as: 12:54 Control key: 13:45 More control key shortcuts: 14:46 Copying: 15:55 Date shortcut: 17:36 Control key combinations: 18:12 The ALT key: 19:46 Grouping: 21:39 Accessing the ribbon with ALT: 22:55 Remove filters: 24:45 Pasting values: 25:01 Queries and connections: 25:07 Digital validation dialog: 25:28 Mouse shortcuts: 25:54 The format painter: 26:42 Border navigation: 27:39 Double clicking the fill: 28:28 Right clicking: 29:14

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

There is also an accompanying online article and video of this podcast, which includes a tutorial and sample formulas.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast app. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Can ChatGPT give accurate and reliable answers to Excel questions? Neale Blackwood CPA puts this popular AI tool to the test.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

Read the accompanying online article of this podcast, which includes a video tutorial and sample formulas.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them on your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come to Microsoft Excel, and it will make your life easier when working with data. 

The AI function can easily create PivotTables and PivotCharts, which is useful for analysis and audit work. You can also generate reports at the click of a button. 

Listen here to learn more. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

You can also read the accompanying online article and video tutorial of this podcast. 

BOILERPLATE COPY (REPEATS EVERY EPISODE)

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance and accounting: 

Search for them on your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

Along with the LAMBDA function, other new functions make Excel’s function language behave more like a programming language.

Which can help you in various ways. 

Want to learn more?

Excel expert Neale Blackwood CPA steps you through.

Listen now. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast platform. 

Email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au 

And you can read the accompanying online article of this podcast. 

Other Excel articles by Neale can be read on the INTHEBLACK website .

An update to the subscription version of Microsoft Excel has the LAMBDA function, which addresses a key challenge when using dynamic arrays.

To explain more about this functionality is Excel expert, Neale Blackwood CPA. 

Listen now. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast provider. 

Email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au 

And you can read the accompanying online article of this podcast. 

Other Excel articles by Neale can be read on the INTHEBLACK website .

When creating a line chart in Microsoft Excel, do you need to insert a vertical line to mark something on the chart? 

To explain how is Excel expert, Neale Blackwood CPA.  

Listen now. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

Search for them in your podcast provider. 

Email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au 

And you can read the accompanying online article of this podcast. 

Other Excel articles by Neale can be read on INTHEBLACK online.

Today’s episode examines the new data types feature in Microsoft Excel.

There are four data types you can now import from the data ribbon, and that includes stock prices.

To explain how you do all this is CPA Australia’s Excel expert, Neale Blackwood.

Listen now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA. He has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator and is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast service.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

And you can read more of Neale’s Excel articles online.

Today’s episode investigates working with dates and days in Microsoft Excel.

Excel can perform basic addition and subtraction calculations using dates, as well as dedicated functions that perform more complex calcs.

To explain is CPA Australia’s Excel expert, Neale Blackwood.

Listen now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA. He has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator and is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast service.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

And you can read more of Neale’s Excel articles online, including the accompanying article to this podcast.

Today’s episode looks at a handy tool in Microsoft Excel called Goal Seek.

It can be used to create a loan schedule with an interest-free period using formulas.

To explain how you do this is CPA Australia’s Excel expert, Neale Blackwood.

Listen now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA. He has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator and is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast service.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

And you can read more of Neale’s Excel articles online, including the accompanying article to this podcast.

Today’s episode will help with your formatting in Microsoft Excel.

Want to know how to make your files easier to read, understand and use?

To explain is CPA Australia’s Excel expert, Neale Blackwood.

Listen now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA. He has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator and is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

Search for them in your podcast service.

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au

And you can read more of Neale’s Excel articles online, including the accompanying article to this podcast.

In this episode, we look at three new text functions released in the latest (subscription) version of Microsoft Excel.  

The functions are: “Text Before”, “Text After” and “Text Split”

To explain this is CPA Australia’s Excel expert Neale Blackwood CPA.

Listen now.

Host:  Neale Blackwood CPA

Excel Tips is for accounting, business and finance professionals looking to sharpen their spreadsheet skills and learn new hacks and tricks from Neale Blackwood CPA, a Microsoft Excel expert.

Excel Tips helps spreadsheet users discover hidden features and shortcuts and understand how best to apply the newest features and functionality.

The podcast is a companion to regular articles in INTHEBLACK, CPA Australia’s award-winning business magazine.

Neale Blackwood CPA has over 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator.

He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants. 

Excel Tips is presented by CPA Australia, one of the world’s largest accounting bodies, with core services that include education, training, technical support and advocacy.

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance and accounting.

Search for them in your podcast service.

To find out more about our podcasts, visit our podcast page.

Or search for the shows in your podcast service.

To contact the podcast team, email podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au 

Excel Tips is a podcast for accounting, business and finance professionals who are looking to sharpen their spreadsheet skills and learn new hacks and tricks from Neale Blackwood CPA, a Microsoft Excel expert.

EXCEL TIPS helps spreadsheet users discover Excel’s hidden features and shortcuts and understand how best to apply the newest features and functionality.

The podcast is a companion to regular articles in INTHEBLACK, CPA Australia’s award-winning business magazine. Every podcast episode includes links to the accompanying EXCEL TIPS digital magazine article.

Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

Subscribe today to stay up-to-date with the latest episodes.

EXCEL TIPS is presented by CPA Australia, one of the world’s largest accounting bodies, with core services that include education, training, technical support and advocacy.

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CPA Australia publishes three podcasts: - With Interest - INTHEBLACK  - Excel Tips

To find out more about our podcasts, visit https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/tools-and-resources/podcasts - or search for the shows in your podcast service. To contact the podcast team email us at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au.