Spreadsheet Internal Controls

Level: Intermediate

Available Durations:

• 50 minutes
• 60 minutes
• 75 minutes
• 90 minutes
• 100 minutes
• 120 minutes

Description:

Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA, shows you how to implement internal control features within Excel spreadsheets in this comprehensive webcast. Step-by-step, he explains how the Data Validation feature, the Conditional Formatting feature, hide and protect features, and others can be used to control users’ actions and protect your worksheets and workbooks from unauthorized changes. Several Excel functions, including VLOOKUP, SUM, SUMIF, IF, and IFERROR also are discussed.

David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Office 365) version of Excel. David draws your attention to any differences in the older versions of Excel (2019, 2016, 2013, and earlier) during the presentation as well as in his detailed handouts. David also provides an Excel workbook that includes most of the examples he uses during the webcast.

Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that provides new-feature updates as often as monthly. Conversely, the perpetual licensed versions of Excel have feature sets that don’t change. Perpetual licensed versions have year numbers, such as Excel 2019, Excel 2016, and so on.

Topics/Areas Typically Covered:

• Limiting users to entering whole numbers in a worksheet cell by way of Data Validation.
• Tweaking Data Validation settings for a given range of cells.
• Future-proofing VLOOKUP by using Excel’s Table feature versus referencing static ranges.
• Viewing two worksheets at the same time within the same workbook.
• Improving the integrity of spreadsheets with Excel’s VLOOKUP function.
• Identifying situations where VLOOKUP may return #N/A instead of a value.
• Using Excel’s IFERROR function to mask # sign errors, such as #N/A.
• Overcoming VLOOKUP’s quirks by using the SUMIF function to look up numeric values.
• Using Excel’s IF function to make certain fields appear blank until a required input is provided.
• Using a custom number format to hide zero amounts within a specific area of a spreadsheet.
• Creating resilient SUM functions that won’t break when users insert additional rows.
• Toggling the locked status of a worksheet cell on or off by way of a custom shortcut.
• Protecting sensitive information by hiding formulas within an Excel workbook.
• Using Conditional Formatting to identify unlocked cells into which data can be entered.
• Preserving key formulas using hide and protect features.
• Utilizing the Allow Users to Edit Ranges command to allow selected users the ability to override cells in protected areas of a workbook.
• Protecting hidden sheets from within a workbook.

Learning Objectives/Why You Should Attend:

• Apply lookup functions to find and access data automatically from lists.
• Identify how hide and protect features can be used to preserve key formulas.
• Define how to use Excel’s Data Validation feature to restrict data entry to a list of permissible choices.

About the Instructor:

David H. Ringstrom, CPA, is an author and nationally recognized instructor who teaches scores of webinars each year. His Excel courses are based on over 25 years of consulting and teaching experience. David’s mantra is “Either you work Excel, or it works you,” so he focuses on what he sees users don’t, but should, know about Microsoft Excel. His goal is to empower you to use Excel more effectively. To learn more about David, you can view his LinkedIn profile and follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@excelwriter).

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