Retained earnings formula: reconcile profit, dividends and the balance sheet
Build a two-year retained earnings roll-forward with a profit year and a loss year, catch a dividend sign error and reconcile the result to balance-sheet equity.
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SUMIF vs SUMIFS: build a checked finance report
Compare SUMIF and SUMIFS on a small invoice ledger: entity and status totals, January date boundaries, silent argument-order zeros and a reconciliation check.
VLOOKUP practice: three finance exercises with worked answers
Practice VLOOKUP on a fictional fee ledger: exact matching, a copied formula that breaks and a missing client — with worked answers and checks.
Working capital schedule: forecast receivables, inventory and payables
Build a three-year operating working capital schedule from DSO, DIO and DPO drivers, check the cash-flow sign of each change and catch a payables forecast on the wrong base.
XLOOKUP vs INDEX MATCH: choose and check your budget lookup
Compare XLOOKUP and INDEX MATCH with the same Excel budget example. Check exact matches, missing IDs, two-way lookups and workbook compatibility.
Excel for finance: learn the skills by building a budget report
Learn Excel for finance through a practical skills sequence and a checked budget report. Use SUMIFS, copied references, variance analysis and source reconciliation.