Financial Cell Formatting in Excel – how can I use this formatting in my spreadsheets? Watch the video to learn more
This week’s hint and tip is on financial cell formatting in Excel. This looks at this specific type of cell formatting and how it can be used in spreadsheets. This is covered in our Basic Excel course but we decided to do a hint and tip on it as well. We are going to go through it now below.
Cell Formatting in Excel
All cells in Excel start off with a ‘General’ cell formatting. Therefore this means that there is not a specific cell formatting applied to them. Cell formatting can be used in your spreadsheets for data that have specific formatting needs. For example, date cells will need to look different compared to standard plain numbers.
In this hint and tip we are looking specifically at the financial cell formatting options of Currency and Accounting. To apply these options, firstly select the cell and then apply the formatting to it.
Currency Cell Formatting
This type of cell formatting is to be used for any figures in your spreadsheet that are financial. Applying this cell formatting to a number will add a currency symbol and 2 decimal places to the end of it. If your number already has decimal places it will either add 0’s at the end or round it up/down to 2 decimal places. For example, if the cell has the number 2.5 in it, then the currency formatting will make it £2.50. By default the symbol inserted will depend on what language is set as default for your computer/laptop. So if you want to change this, then all you have to do is select the symbol you require from the list.
Accounting Cell Formatting
This type of cell formatting is very similar to the currency one as it is for figures that are financial. Applying this cell formatting to a number will look the same as currency with a slight difference. The difference is that the decimal place and the currency symbol are both aligned up in the cell.
The video below shows you how to use both of these cell formatting types in Excel. It goes through each financial cell formatting style and how the number will look when each is applied.
Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!
We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on financial cell formatting in Excel. Why not take a look at our previous one on two new functions, XLOOKUP and Filter in Excel?