Excel

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  • #175877
    testsz
    Member

    Hello Guys,

    I will be starting an Accounting internship very shortly and was wondering what should I know about Excel? I don’t actively use Excel at the moment and didn’t through out school. Does anyone know of any good tutorials that will specifically help in the Accounting profession?

    Thanks.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
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  • #393477
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Try to learn the VLOOKUP function. We use it ALL the time.

    #393478
    testsz
    Member

    Will do. Are the VLOOKUP and Pivot table functions advanced excel techniques?

    Although it would be impressive for me to already know these techniques, I prefer to know the basics and build a strong foundation before progressing.

    Thanks.

    #393479
    mla1169
    Participant

    There are many tutorials on you tube. vlookups and pivot tables aren't really advanced techniques, and for accounting they are part of a basic toolkit for compiling and analyzing data. Even if you haven't mastered them, do know when they are used and for what purposes.

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    #393480
    mdrobbin
    Member

    Once you do a few vlookups and pivot tables you will start to get the hang of it. They are not too advanced and, with practice, become second nature. It's all about first-hand practice with Excel. Watch a video or two on YouTube to see how it works then just open up an excel sheet and start playing around.

    Down the road, if you're brave enough, you can try to learn some VBA coding. I typically copy coding from excel blogs posted for the assistance of others and have managed to learn how to adjust the code to my needs. I tried reading a book on coding and made it about 5 pages before I either fell asleep or needed a beer because my brain hurt. Never made it through chapter one… But people that know how to write code can do some really nifty things in excel.

    One thing I find useful is just learning the shortcuts on the keyboard. I hardly ever need to use a mouse anymore because I force myself to learn keyboard shortcuts such as:

    F2 – drill into formula in cell

    F4 – freeze cells (I.e. $A$4)

    Ctrl + page up/page down – scroll through worksheet tabs

    Shift + F11 – add new tab

    Ctrl + Spacebar – highlight entire column

    The list goes on and on but these types of shortcuts keep me very efficient. I LOVE excel as you might be able to see 🙂

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    #393481

    I'm probably going to do one of these five:

    The Five Best Free Excel Tutorials on the Web

    They seem comprehensive, which is what I need.

    #393482
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I agree with what the other posters have said – VLOOKUP is not too advanced but it's VERY helpful. Pivot tables are great too, but I use VLOOKUP way more.

    #393483
    Mayo
    Participant

    I say vlookup, index, and pivot tables are the more advanced excel functions you'll use. Also, filtering, grouping/ungrouping data, and conditional formatting is also helpful.

    Really though, at your level I'd get familiar with more basic functions like sum, sumproduct, if, countif, =right, =left, etc.

    Also, look at these shortcuts, and see if you can slowly incorporate the, instead of using a mouse.

    https://www.wallstreetprep.com/extrafiles/finmodeling/downloads/xlshortcuts0710.pdf

    Mayo, BBA, Macc

    #393484
    FlipACoin
    Participant

    I agree with most on here, Lookups, Pivots, etc. are the more helpful things to master in Excel for any type of accounting/finance work. I've found most of the text functions very helpful as well when attempting to clean data from a data dump (left, right, len). Nested IF's and conditional formatting are both critical when trying to classify a large data set. If you get to the point where you have to create a user friendly management report style report, drop downs and buttons are handy tricks as well. VBA is so helpful but it really isn't necessary just yet, I would get everything down listed above (and the rest of this thread) before even thinking about VBA.

    At the end of the day, as one poster mentioned, the true key is practice. Although free tutorials are great, you might want to just invest 40 bucks in a book. It can be a great reference to keep on your desk in case you get stuck at work (a book can actually be quicker than looking something up online) but even more helpful, they usually include a CD with realistic data sets for you to practice on. It's the practice with realistic data sets that will truly help things sink in.

    Good luck!

    #393485
    peetree
    Member

    Learn the power of the =If( and the =sumif(

    vlookups are fine, but you really want to start placing conditional rules in your formulas.

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    #393486
    peetree
    Member

    Learn the power of the =If( and the =sumif(

    vlookups are fine, but you really want to start placing conditional rules in your formulas.

    FAR 02/21/13 - 95
    REG 07/02/13 - 87
    AUD 08/02/13 - 94
    BEC 08/30/13 - 85
    Ethics Exam - 90

    Illinois candidate awaiting his license

    Used Becker Self Study | Ninja Audio | Becker Flash Cards | Ninja Notes | Wiley Test Bank

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