Must Know Excel Functions for CPA's

Course Description:

This course explores functions in Excel that CPAs should use to enhance productivity and ensure accurate answers when working with data. Functions are built-in. preset formulas in the Excel program that calculate certain values or accomplish certain calculation goals. Formulas are instructions given to Excel to perform calculations. As an example, if you wanted to add the values of cells A1, B1, C1, D1 and E1, you could type the formula =A1+B1+C1+D1+E1. However, an easier way to arrive at the total value of these cells is to use the SUM function in Excel that adds up all the given cell values with a couple of mouse clicks and inserts =SUM(A1:E1).

The present SUM function in the above examples is much easier than typing in all the cell values that you may want to add together, especially when there are many cells. This demonstrates how functions can enhance productivity. In this example, using the SUM function also provides a much easier way to review and less error prone means of adding these cell values. If you were to type in each individual cell into a formula, the likelihood of error in terms of missing a cell or using a cell that was not intended is much higher. The SUM function, therefore, ensures more accurate answers.

Learning Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand functions used to sum and count data and their uses
• Use logical functions to test and to locate and handle expectations
• Effectively use text functions to manipulate text data
• Find specific items in large spreadsheets using the vlookup and a combination of the index and match functions
• Use certain financial functions to compute a payment, rate, term, present value or future value