Building Budget Spreadsheets (Video) (Course Id 2586)

• Who is this course for?
  This course is designed for anyone needing Continuing Professional Education (CPE), particularly CPAs and accounting professionals looking to enhance their Excel skills for budgeting.

• What is this course about or what problem does this course solve?
  This course teaches participants how to build resilient and easy-to-maintain budget spreadsheets using Excel features like range names, tables, and key functions like VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, and SUMIF.

• How can the knowledge from this course be used?
  The skills taught in this course can be directly applied to improve spreadsheet design, simplify formula writing, and reduce maintenance in budgeting processes.

• Why is this course important to a CPA, Accountant, or IRS Enrolled Agent?
  CPAs and accounting professionals benefit from learning advanced Excel techniques that improve efficiency, accuracy, and clarity in financial modeling and budgeting.

• When is this course relevant or timely?
  This course is especially timely for professionals using Excel 365 or other versions, as it includes updates and distinctions relevant to 2021, 2019, and 2016 Excel editions.

• How is a course like this consumed or used?
  The course is delivered as a QAS Self Study video presentation, with visual demonstrations, downloadable handouts, and a final exam to earn 2.0 CPE credits.

In this presentation, author and Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA, teaches you how to create resilient and easy-to-maintain budget spreadsheets. David will contrast assigning names to cells, which both simplify formula writing and review, as well as spreadsheet navigation with the Table features, which offers similar benefits. You'll see how the Use In Formula command streamlines formula writing, and how the VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, and SUMIF functions minimize formula maintenance.

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.

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 - 2586

Course Learning Objectives

• State where range names assigned to worksheet cells appear within Excel's user interface.
• Identify the character that denotes an absolute reference within a formula.
• State which tab within the Format Cells dialog box contains the Hidden checkbox.

Chapter 1 - Building Budget Spreadsheets

Chapter 1 Review Questions

Key Terms