Spreadsheets are commonly used tools in business. Their main function is to group and label data to show information in an easy to understand format. When it comes to data, it is often harder to write out in words what a simple spreadsheet can show easily through its table structure.
Spreadsheets are made up of rows of data that are labeled from left to right and also labeled up and down. It is common for the left to right columns to be labeled by the alphabet while the up and down columns labeled with numbers. (Please see example below)
- Basic Spread Sheet
One common use for spreadsheet is to show the income and expenses of a project or business. This will be the example we use for our spreadsheet today.
Step 1
Let’s start by labeling some categories in the A, B, and C columns of the spreadsheet. We will label them as Item, Income, and Expenses. We can achieve this by clicking on the cell desired and then typing our words directly in the cell. When you are done with this step it should look something like this.
Step 1
Step 2
Next we will add some details to our spreadsheet. In cell A2 let’s add a detail item for some income. We will call it Invoice 101 to signify that we were paid on invoice 101 and we are recording in our spreadsheet. In the income column B2 let’s type in 550.00 to represent that the customer paid $550.00 for our services. The spreadsheet should now look something like this.
Step 2
Step 3
Now let’s record some expenses for our spreadsheet. In cell A3 let’s add the item named Supplies to signify that we bought some office supplies for the month. For the amount of expenses let’s type in -100 into the expense column C2. The spreadsheet should now look something like this.
Step 3
Step 4
Now we might want to know what the result of our income and our expenses are for this month at this point. In the spreadsheet we can add a total column that will add these two values together to give us the running total of our account to this point in time. Let’s add the text “Total” into cell A5 to show that is will be our result of income after expenses. Now let’s create the actual math to calculate the total of the account. To do this click on cell C5 and enter the “=” operator. This tells the spreadsheet that we will be starting some math. Next click on the B2 Income column notice that the spreadsheet shows B2 after the equals sign. Now continue and type the “+” operator. This tells the spreadsheet that we are going to add two things together. In this case, we will be adding two cells together to get the account balance. So with the B2 and + in our spreadsheet click on cell C3 to finish our equation and factor in the expenses. Your spreadsheet should look something like this.
Step 4
Step 5
Now hit the enter key to show the result. The spreadsheet should now show the product of your income with your expenses for a total of 450.
Step 5
This is just a simple example of how to do a spreadsheet for accounting or book keeping purposes. Other ways you can use spreadsheets is for inventory or advance uses like data look-ups and charting. We will look to cover some of those topics at a later time.
