Microsoft Excel is a powerful tool for analyzing financial data and preparing financial reports, but like most powerful tools, it contains hidden features and functionality useful for these purposes that are not obvious to users, both novice and expert alike. The purpose of this course is to uncover these hidden features so that users may prepare computationally accurate and aesthetically pleasing reports in a more effective and efficient manner. It provides solutions for accountants in the following six major topic areas: advanced techniques for formatting reports and financial statements, assembly and printing of reports and schedules, using templates to automate reporting processes, advanced financial analysis with PivotTables connected to the General Ledger using ODBC, data consolidation, and using charts and digital dashboards for presenting financial information. Participants will have access to sample data files. 

Upon completing this course, participants should be able to: 

Identify and understand how to format financial statements and other Excel-based reports more effectively with tools such as Custom Formats, Conditional Formatting, the Accounting Format, and Multicolumn line headings

- Recognize opportunities to streamline report assembly and printing with tools such as Camera, Custom Views, Linked and Embedded Objects, and saving Excel-based reports as PDF documents

- Differentiate between Excel's default templates and templates for financial reporting and analysis and describe how to create templates and apply them to financial reporting and analysis situations

- Describe how Excel features such as Sorting, Data Tables, Subtotal, Filters, and PivotTables aid in financial reporting and analysis and apply each of these tools in context

- List four techniques for consolidating data, describe advantages of each technique, and apply each technique when consolidating data

- Create Excel-based charts and dashboards to aid in communicating financial data to information consumers, including differentiating between different types of charts and describing the circumstances under which certain types of charts are preferable