Beckers Top 3 Excel Tricks

Becker’s Top 3
Excel Tricks 12:42
Using Microsoft Excel is an essential part of the modern accountant’s daily repertoire. Gone are the days of the handheld
calculator, and in its place is a powerful spreadsheet program that can perform hundreds of functions at the click of a button!
Excel can be used for everything from storing rows of financial transactions to calculating formulas and organizing information –
but as an accountant, you’re probably already familiar with its capabilities.
It’s safe to say that knowing the ins and outs of Excel is essential for a profession as data-oriented as accounting. If used
correctly, Excel can make your job infinitely easier, and can help you save time and brain power. Becker has compiled our top
three tips that are easy to implement in an Excel workbook, and that can help you work quickly and more efficiently!
Here are the best tips from Becker’s own Excel guru and instructor,
Dr. Wayne Winston, that every accountant should have in their back pocket.
*NOTE – if you’re viewing this article in a PDF / non-web file, you’ll need to right click, copy and paste the hyperlinks into your browser to download these Excel files!
Tip #1
Unique function
Every accountant knows about the filter function, which can help sift through a large range of data - but did you
know that you can use the UNIQUE function to return all unique values from a given list? Here’s how!
*Note – This trick will only work for Microsoft Windows Insider accountholders – you can join
the community for free on Microsoft’s website.
Copy and paste this link into a new browser tab to download the Excel file and follow along.
1. For a given set of data, create a table - to do so, select the desired data and use the keystroke combination
CONTROL + T.
2. As shown in Figure 1 and the worksheet

UNIQUE of this Excel workbook, we made
the range B4:B9 into a table (named,
“people.”) If we add a new name (say,
“Rebecca”) to cell B10, then the formula
=UNIQUE(people[Names]) in cell E4 will
automatically populate cell E9 with “Rebecca,”
as this is a new, unique value in our list. You
now have a list of entirely unique values from a
given set of data! How easy was that? Hang on Figure 1: The UNIQUE formula
to this file – you’ll need it for Tip #3!

Tip #2
Writing a formula across sheets
During busy season, every minute counts. You’ll need every tip and trick to get a spare minute, which will help
you tremendously during crunch time when deadlines are around every corner. One simple way to save time?
Streamlining your Excel sheet setup! If you need to set up multiple Excel sheets with the same formula in each
(say, for fiscal year planning), here’s a quick technique to help you copy your setup across worksheets.
The workbook contains a blank worksheet for the months January-June and a blank summary worksheet.
Suppose we want each of our monthly worksheets to track units sold, price, and revenue in the cell range B1:B3.
To copy your setup across all sheets, follow these easy steps:
1. Click on the January worksheet tab and hold down the Shift key and click on the June tab.
2. Fill in cells A1:A3 of the January worksheet as shown in Figure 2, with data for units, price and revenue. Enter
numbers in cells B1 and B2, but in cell B3, enter the formula ‘=B1*B2’.
3. After clicking on the summary worksheet (this will undo

the selection of the January-June worksheets), you will find
that each month’s worksheet looks like Figure 2 - voilà!
With this trick, you’ll be able to avoid copying and pasting
your worksheet multiple times.
Figure 2: Copying formulas across multiple sheets

Tip #3
Refreshed pivot tables
Ever make a pivot table and need to add additional data? Us, too! There’s a simple way to add even more data
into a pivot table and to have your formulas update to include this newly added data. This is especially helpful for
tasks where you need to continually account for new data as you receive it.
Use the workbook to get started – it’s the same workbook as in Tip #1! Here is how to do it:
1. Start on the worksheet “Pivot Table.” In cell F16, the formula =UNIQUE(sales[Product]) will return a list of all
products.
2. In cell G15, the formula =TRANSPOSE(UNIQUE(sales[Country])) returns a list of all countries.
3. Enter in cell G16 the (AMAZING) formula =SUMIFS(sales[Revenue],sales[Product],F16#,sales[Country],G15#)

This will compute all the needed totals - you don’t even need to copy the formula! The F16# and G15# portions
of the formula ensure that total revenue is computed for each product-country combination.
4. Amazingly, if new data is entered starting

in row 211, revenue for any new product-
country combination will be totaled.
For example, in row 211 of the worksheet
“Pivot Table,” we entered a revenue of
2000 for Chip 12 in Mexico. As Figure 3
shows, our formulas will automatically
include this data in the calculations.
Figure 3: Refreshed pivot tables

Other quick tips!
That’s not all! Here are a few other handy Excel tips that you can use to help format and organize your
spreadsheets the way you want, with just a clack of a few keys:
Create a This keyboard shortcut turns a range of data into a table for easy
Ctrl T
table access to sorting!
Ctrl A To select all text, then hold down

Auto-fit
columns This sequence allows you to select all of the text in a given sheet,
Alt H O I and auto-t columns to this text (or data) - no more manually
adjusting column width!
Conditional Select the text you want to format, then use these keystrokes to
Alt O D
formatting create new conditional formatting rules - color coding, anyone?
Add today’s In a given cell, the control button held down with the semicolon key
Ctrl ;
date will enter today’s date, so you don’t have to open your calendar app!
Format cell This sequence will pull up available formatting for text, including
Ctrl 1
options currency, dates and more.
We hope these techniques have helped you become an Excel wizard and make your workdays a little bit easier. Learn more
of Becker’s best-kept Excel secrets with our Microsoft Excel Fundamentals + Data Analytics Certificate.
Not ready to level up your Excel expertise? Explore all of Becker’s CPE offerings.
becker.com

Beckers Top 3 Excel Tricks

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Beckers Top 3 Excel Tricks

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Beckers Top 3 Excel Tricks

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Becker’s Top 3

Excel Tricks 12:42

2. As shown in Figure 1 and the worksheet

to this file – you’ll need it for Tip #3!

3. After clicking on the summary worksheet (this will undo

Figure 2: Copying formulas across multiple sheets

2. In cell G15, the formula =TRANSPOSE(UNIQUE(sales[Country])) returns a list of all countries.

3. Enter in cell G16 the (AMAZING) formula =SUMIFS(sales[Revenue],sales[Product],F16#,sales[Country],G15#)

4. Amazingly, if new data is entered starting

Figure 3: Refreshed pivot tables

Ctrl A To select all text, then hold down

You might also like