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.
THE FINX JOURNAL LEARN BY DOING
Excel for finance
Make formulas behave the way you intend. Work through references, lookups and the small details that make a spreadsheet reliable.
In this topic
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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.
Sensitivity analysis in Excel: build a grid you can check
Build a price-and-volume sensitivity grid with copied formulas, check all nine answers, and compare the setup with Excel's native two-variable Data Table.
Absolute references in Excel: make every copied formula count
Learn when to use absolute, relative and mixed references, then follow a finance example where one missing dollar sign changes the result.
XLOOKUP practice: find the right value, then handle the missing one
Practise an exact-match lookup with a small finance table. Check missing values and repeated records before trusting the answer.