Setting out workings

There two important objectives to be attained when preparing a spreadsheet.

Objective 1

The calculations on your spreadsheet are easy to follow and understand.

It would not be good for you or anyone else to come back to your spreadsheet in a month's time and not be able to understand how you reach your answers.

Objective 2

Your spreadsheets should be very professional when printed and passed to other to examine.

In regard to the first objective, it is critical that you always provide sufficient information to enable readers to follow your calculations. Good labeling is the key. In example 1A below "Advertising", "Postage" and "Total Expenditure" are labels. In example 2A, "Persons", "Cost ea" and "Total" are also labels.

In the illustration on the right, the cell containing "10" has two labels, a label to the left "Apples" and a label above "Qty" (an abbreviation for quantity). Ideally, all figures will have a label somewhere above and somewhere to the left.

The illustrations below will provide you with some guidance as to setting out your calculations.

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