CLASS ACCESS CODE: 72M7W-WX9TR

YACAR-YACARA CONSULTS

FINANCIAL MODELLING

PART 1

EXCEL BASICS

CLASS ACCESS CODE: 72M7W-WX9TR

What is Excel?

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program written and distributed by Microsoft for computers using

the Microsoft Windows operating system and for Apple Macintosh computers.

Uses of excel

It features an intuitive interface and capable calculation and graphing tools. It is used to analyze

business, personal, or financial data and create reports in a table format consisting of rows and

columns.

Excel Window Overview

THE TITLE BAR

Title Bar shows the name of the application, document, group, directory or file.

MENU MAR

Menu Bar contains the available menus from which you can choose commands.

STANDARD & FORMATTING BAR

Standard & Formatting Toolbar provide a quick method of working with various parts of the

worksheet. Toolbars can be customized and multiple toolbars can be displayed at the same time.

ACTIVE CELL

Active Cell has a black border that appears around it.

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VERTICAL & HORIZONTAL SCROLL BARS

Vertical & Horizontal Scroll Bars enable you to move through a spreadsheet when the entire

spreadsheet does not fit in the window or the allotted space. Click the scroll arrows with the mouse

to move through the spreadsheet or to see one line at a time

Worksheet

A worksheet contains rows and columns that intersect to form cells. A black border appears around

the active cell.

Columns and Rows

A column in Excel is a vertical arrangement of data, and a row in Excel is a horizontal arrangement of

data. There are 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows available in a worksheet.

Inserting and deleting rows & columns

When you delete a column, existing columns shift their positions to close the gap. Any existing

columns you select for deletion is erased. Data in existing columns is shifted back to the left to fill

the gap left by the deleted columns.

When you insert rows into a worksheet, existing rows shift their position down. For example, if you

select row 3 and then insert a row, the data that was in row 3 is shifted down and becomes row 4.

Mouse Pointers in Excel

= Select – main mouse pointer used for selecting cells. Click once in a cell to select it or click

and drag to select several cells.

= Fill - appears after you have selected a cell (or cells) and will show only at the bottom right

of the selection (tiny box called the Fill Handle). Using this will allow you to fill a series such as

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.

= Resize - appears when you are between columns or rows, allowing you to resize them

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Selecting and de-selecting Cells

Before you can work with cells, you need to select one or more.

To select one cell, click it.

To select a group of cells, be sure the mouse pointer shows as the selection mouse pointer,

click in the first cell and drag through to the last cell (first cell will show white and all others

will be shaded).

To de-select cells, click once in any cell – there will always be one cell active

To select the entire worksheet, press Ctrl + A on the keyboard or click the blank area to the

left of column A and just above row 1.

Selecting rows or columns

To select one column (e.g. column A), click on the A (above the cells) – the entire column

shows selected.

To select one row (e.g. row 1), click on the 1 (to the left of the cells) – the entire row is

selected.

To select multiple columns click the letter for one column and drag right or left to include

other columns

To select multiple rows click the number for one row and drag down or up to include other

rows

Freezing Rows or Columns

When you need to keep the top row or left column in view as you work with a large amount of data,

you can Freeze it so it’s always visible on the screen (note – this does not affect printing).

Go to View/Freeze Panes

Select either Freeze Top Row (freezes row 1) or Freeze

First Column (freezes column A)

To unfreeze, select Unfreeze Panes

Protecting Worksheets

It is very important to secure your model/assignment/project to avoid data manipulation by third

parties. To protect your worksheet the following steps are taken: On the Menu Tab,

Click on review

Click on Protect Sheet

Select protect worksheets and contents of locked cells

Define the scope of protection by ticking and un-ticking the options

Type your password (Note: You will not be able to do anything when you forget your

password)

Re-enter the password and click Ok.

Click Ok

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Protecting Workbooks

To protect your worksheet the following steps are taken: On the Menu Tab,

Click on file

Click on Protect Workbook

Select encrypt with password

Type your password (Note: You will not be able to do anything when you forget your

password)

Re-enter the password and click Ok.

Click Ok

Formatting

Merging Cells

On the Menu Tab,

Click on Home

Type some text in cell (A1) and the press the Enter key.

Reselect cell (A1), then center and hold the mouse button down inside the cell. Drag the

mouse pointer (a thick white plus sign) across to column (H1).

Click on the Merge & Center command located on the Formatting bar.

Note: The cells remain active until you click outside the active area (merged cells).

Sorting Cells

On the Menu Tab,

Select the range of cells that requires sorting.

Click on the Sort & Filter command in the group Editing on the Home tab.

Select from the options listed, Ascending order (A to Z), Descending order (Z to A), or

Custom Sort

Click the tab Data then choose a sort option provided in the group Sort & Filtering