Excel 2002 Financial Analysis With Excel, Finance & economic
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Spreadsheet Basics
CHAPTER 1
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
Explain the basic purpose of a spreadsheet program.
1.
Identify the various components of the Excel screen.
2.
Navigate the Excel worksheet (entering, correcting, and moving data
within the worksheet).
3.
Explain the purpose and usage of ExcelÓs built-in functions and macro
functions.
4.
Create graphics and know how to print and save files in Excel.
5.
The term ÐspreadsheetÑ covers a wide variety of elements useful for quantitative
analysis of all kinds. Essentially, a spreadsheet is a simple tool consisting of a
matrix of cells that can store numbers, text, or formulas. The spreadsheetÓs power
comes from its ability to recalculate results as you change the contents of other
cells. No longer does the user need to do these calculations by hand or on a
calculator. Instead, with a properly constructed spreadsheet, changing a single
number (say, a sales forecast) can result in literally thousands of automatic changes
in the model. The freedom and productivity enhancement provided by modern
spreadsheets presents an unparalleled opportunity for learning financial analysis.
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Spreadsheet Basics
CHAPTER 1: Spreadsheet Basics
Spreadsheet Uses
Spreadsheets today contain built-in analytical capabilities previously unavailable in
a single package. Users often had to learn a variety of specialized software
packages to do any relatively complex analysis. With the newest versions of
Microsoft Excel, users can perform tasks ranging from the routine maintenance of
financial statements to multivariate regression analysis to Monte Carlo simulations
of various hedging strategies.
It is literally impossible to enumerate all of the possible applications for
spreadsheets. You should keep in mind that spreadsheets are useful not only for
financial analysis, but for any type of quantitative analysis whether your specialty
is in marketing, management, engineering, statistics, or economics. For that matter,
a spreadsheet can also prove valuable for personal uses. With Excel it is a fairly
simple matter to build a spreadsheet to monitor your investment portfolio, do
retirement planning, experiment with various mortgage options when buying a
house, keep a mailing list, etc. The possibilities are quite literally endless. The
more comfortable you become with the spreadsheet, the more valuable uses you
will find. Above all, feel free to experiment! Try new things. Using a spreadsheet
can help you find solutions that you never would have imagined on your own.
Starting Microsoft Excel
Before you can do any work in Excel, you have to run the program. In Windows,
programs are generally started by double-clicking on the programÓs icon. The
location of the Excel icon will depend on the organization of your system. You
may have the Excel icon (left) on the desktop. Otherwise, you can start Excel by
clicking the Start button and then choosing Microsoft Excel from the All Programs
menu.
Excel 2002 Icon
For easier access, you may wish to create a Desktop or Taskbar shortcut. To do this
right-click on the Excel icon in the All Programs menu and either choose Create
Shortcut or drag the icon to the Desktop or Taskbar. Remember that a shortcut is
not the program itself, so you can safely delete the shortcut if you later decide that
you donÓt need it.
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Spreadsheet Basics
Parts of the Excel Screen
Parts of the Excel Screen
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IGURE
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The Title Bar
The title bar is the area at the very top of the Excel screen. It serves a number of
functions:
¤
Identifies the program as Microsoft Excel and displays the name
of the currently active workbook.
¤
Appears brightly colored when Excel is the active program.
¤
Can be ÐgrabbedÑ with the mouse to move the window around
within the Windows environment, if the window is not
maximized.
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Spreadsheet Basics
CHAPTER 1: Spreadsheet Basics
¤
Contains the system menu (left corner) and the minimize,
maximize, and close buttons (right corner). The system menu
provides choices for moving the window or changing its size as
well as the ability to switch to or run other programs. The
minimize button will collapse the window down to an icon at the
bottom of the Windows screen where it is still active, but out of
the way. The maximize button causes the program to occupy the
entire screen. The close button will exit the program.
¤
When double-clicked, the title bar duplicates the functioning of
the maximize button.
The Menu Bar
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M
ENUS
The main menu bar in Excel provides access to nine menus, each of which leads to
further choices. There are two ways to select a menu: click on the menu of choice
with the mouse, or use the Alt key in combination with the underlined letter in the
menu name. For example, to choose the
F
ile menu, you could either click on the
word Ð
F
ileÑ or press Alt+F on the keyboard. Either method will lead to the
F
ile
menu dropping down, allowing you to make another choice.
In Windows, menus are persistent, meaning that they stay visible on the screen until
you either make a selection or cancel the menu by pressing the Esc key. While the
menu is visible, you may use either the arrow keys or the mouse to select a
function.
At times, some menu selections are displayed in a light gray color (grayed). These
options are not available for selection at the time that the menu is selected. For
example, if you have not cut or copied a cell, the
P
aste option from the
E
dit menu
has nothing to paste, so it is grayed. Only the menu options displayed in black may
be selected.
Refer to Appendix A for a short description of each menu selection.
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Spreadsheet Basics
Parts of the Excel Screen
The Toolbars
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OOLBARS
Immediately below the menu bar, Excel displays a series of shortcut buttons on
Toolbars. The exact buttons, and their order, may be different on different
machines. The buttons provide a quick way to carry out certain commands without
wading through menus and dialog boxes. To add, delete, or rearrange buttons
choose
V
i
ew
T
oolbars
C
ustomize from the menus. You can learn what function
each button performs by simply moving the mouse pointer over a button on a
Toolbar. After a few seconds, a message will appear that informs you of the
buttonÓs function. This message is known as a ToolTip. ToolTips are used
frequently by Excel to help you to identify the function of various items on the
screen.
Note that you can move a Toolbar, or make it float over the worksheet, by clicking
on a blank area of the Toolbar and dragging it to the new location. Dropping it over
the worksheet area will leave it floating. The Toolbar will stay wherever you drop
it, even after exiting and restarting Excel.
The Formula Bar
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ORMULA
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AR
The formula bar displays information about the currently selected cell. The left
part of the formula bar indicates the name of the selected cell. The right part of the
formula bar displays the contents of the selected cell. If the cell contains a formula,
the formula bar displays the formula, and the cell displays the result of the formula.
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