10 Productive Excel Features for Accountants (and 3 Timewasters) - Video (Course Id 2614)

• Who is this course for?
  Anyone needing Continuing Professional Education (CPE), particularly accountants seeking to improve their Excel skills in a non-technical format—presented via video with self-study delivery.

• What is this course about or what problem does it solve?
  It showcases 10 powerful Excel features (e.g., XLOOKUP, SUMIF, PivotTables, Structured Tables, Conditional Formatting, Custom Views, AutoRecover, Quick Access Toolbar keystrokes, and filtering shortcuts) to enhance efficiency, plus highlights three common Excel time wasters that can reduce productivity.

• How can the knowledge from this course be used?
  Participants can streamline spreadsheet tasks and workflows, mitigate mistakes, recover from crashes more effectively, simplify interfaces, and avoid inefficient workflows in Excel by applying the demonstrated techniques.

• Why is this course important to a CPA, Accountant, or IRS Enrolled Agent?
  Excel is integral to accounting work; mastering productivity features helps reduce errors, save time, and enhance data management and reporting accuracy—critical aspects of a CPA’s daily responsibilities.

• When is this course relevant or timely?
  Released in 2025 and designed to address updates across Excel versions (2016–2021 and Microsoft 365), it reflects current functionality and evolving features, making it immediately applicable.

• How is a course like this consumed or used?
  Delivered as a NASBA QAS Video – Self Study, it includes a PowerPoint demonstration and live Excel demo, supported by detailed handouts and an example workbook. Participants complete review questions and a final exam (70% passing score) within one year of purchase to earn 2.0 CPE credits.

In this presentation, author and Excel expert David H. Ringstrom, CPA will showcase 10 powerful Excel features that can help accountants work more efficiently, including tools like XLOOKUP, SUMIF, PivotTables, and AutoRecover. You’ll see how to streamline tasks by using structured tables, filter data instantly with keyboard shortcuts, and enhance clarity with conditional formatting. David also shares clever ways to simplify your interface—like adding a Clear Filter button—and explains how to recover from common mistakes. To round things out, he’ll reveal three surprisingly time-wasting aspectis of Excel that can hinder productivity rather than help it.

David is the author of “Microsoft Excel 365 for Dummies”, “Exploring Microsoft Excel’s Hidden Treasures”, and has written or co-authored six other books. He demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Excel for Microsoft 365. David draws your attention to any differences in Excel 2021, 2019 or 2016 during the presentation and in his detailed handouts. The handouts include an Excel workbook with most of the examples he uses during his demonstrations. Most features and functions work in Excel for Mac as well but expect differences.

Excel for Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that receives periodic feature updates. Conversely, perpetually licensed versions have year numbers in their names and do not receive any feature updates.

Video - NASBA QAS - NASBA Registry - 2614

Course Learning Objectives

• State which XLOOKUP argument causes an alternate value to be displayed in lieu of #N/A.
• Recall the keystroke that enables you to select two ore more non-adjacent items from a Slicer.
• Identify the keystroke that you use to activate Quick Access Toolbar shortcuts.

Chapter 1 - 10 Productive Excel Features for Accountants (and 3 Timewasters)

Chapter 1 Review Questions

Key Terms