Maximize Excel: What-If Analysis - A/V


CPE Credit: 2 hours

In this valuable course, Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA, draws your attention to the What-If Analysis tools available within Excel’s Data menu. David explains how and when to make use of Excel’s Scenario Manager as well as how to use the Data Table feature to compare calculation results based on two or three inputs. He also shows you how Excel’s Goal Seek feature can be implemented to perform basic what-if analyses, allowing you to solve for a single value.



Topics Covered

• Utilizing a work-around that will let you go beyond the 32-input limit built into Scenario Manager.
• Exploring the Forecast Sheet feature in Excel 2016, which can extrapolate trends based on existing data in your spreadsheets.
• Utilizing the PMT worksheet function to calculate loan payment amounts.
• Utilizing the CUMIPMT worksheet function to calculate interest amounts for any period of a loan without utilizing an amortization table.
• Merging scenarios from other workbooks into your present workbook.
• Learning the basics of Excel’s Solver feature.
• Using the Summary Report aspect of Scenario Manager to compare different scenarios side by side.
• Enabling Excel’s Solver Add-in for more complex what-if analyses.
• Implementing a simple Excel macro that will empower you to apply multiple scenarios at once when you have more than 32 inputs.
• Exploring Excel’s Scenario Manager feature that enables you to store various sets of inputs, such as best case, worst case, and most likely, without having to replicate worksheets or workbooks.

 
Learning Objectives:

• Identify when to use Excel’s Goal Seek feature versus Solver.
• Recall how to use the Data Table feature in Excel to compare calculation results based on varying inputs.
• Define how to make one workbook serve multiple purposes by way of Excel’s Scenario Manager.

 
Course Number: 
DR1905
NASBA Field of Study: 
Computer Software and Applications
Level: 
Intermediate
Presenter:
David Ringstrom
Prerequisites: 
Experience Using Excel to Store Lists of Data Is Recommended
Advanced Preparation: 
None