Tuesday, September 30, 2014

(Excel)erate Your Excel Skills

Recently, I created a PowerPoint presentation in which I was to present a relevant business function with with the Microsoft spreadsheet program, Excel.

Sure, many people are well-versed in the inner-workings of Excel, and some even pursue a major in Management Information Systems or some other Info Tech oriented major. However, some don't understand all of the business functions of the Microsoft program...

I'd just like to take a few moments to introduce you to the Future Value function; it is used to determine accrued investments or profits over a specified amount of time.

So say, for example, I were to make payments of a defined amount, over a certain period at a whatever interest rate is stated, I would enter =fv (the equal sign is CRUCIAL to any Excel function) (interest rate per annum, total number of payment periods, payment made for each period, present value [this is optional], type (1 or 0) [also optional. This is contingent upon when a payment is due: 0=at the end of a period and 1=at the end of a period])

QuickXample (must be using Microsoft Excel)

How much money will I have earned after 4 years if I pay $200 per month into an account at an interest rate of 3%?

Solution: =fv(3%/12,4*12,-200) <<<<<FORMULA. Trust me, it works.





I'd just like to conclude my first tutorial by saying that I hope this can help most of you if you ever come across a place where this function becomes a must!

Thanks for reading!

Regards,
Max

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