Excel - Advanced Reporting & Workbook Testing and Auditing Techniques

Description

Almost all accountants and other business professionals use Excel to create reports, yet many of these reports are using manual, "brute-force" techniques that increase the opportunities for errors and inefficiencies. In this session, you will learn best practices for creating your reports the right way in Excel; moreover, you will learn how you can test and audit workbooks to uncover issues that may be affecting the accuracy of the reports.

Highlights

• Linking Excel to external data sources to link data into your reports;
• Best practices for using PivotTables for summarizing data;
• How and why you should use Slicers to filter your reports;
• The importance of visualizations in reporting processes;
• Excel’s built-in error-checking and auditing tools; and
• How to use tools such as PerfectXL, ClusterSeven, and ActiveData to identify potentially disastrous spreadsheet errors.

If you work with Excel – and who doesn’t! – then this course is a must for you.

Objectives

• Link data into Excel from external data sources;
• Use Tables and PivotTables to summarize data in Excel;
• List and apply Excel shortcuts for formatting financial reports;
• Implement Excel templates to improve reporting productivity;
• List common causes of spreadsheet errors and the potential impact of these errors;
• Identify best practices to reduce the number of errors in Excel workbooks; and
• Implement various Excel add-ins to programmatically identify spreadsheet errors.

Designed For

Accounting and financial professionals who use Excel for reporting and want to reduce the risk of errors, simplify reporting processes, and improve the quality of reports