User:Charles Jeffrey Danoff/ACC 164

Class notes are written by Chuck based on Walter G Shriner's instructions, re-printed on Wikiversity with permission.
 * Class: ACC 164 MICROSOFT EXCEL FOR ACCOUNTANTS @ Oakton Community College
 * Instructor: Walter G Shriner, Instructor of Accounting. Cf. Oakton Community College Accounting Faculty.
 * Textbook: Microsoft Office Excel 2007 In Business ISBN-10: 013199171X
 * Dates: Four 4-hour Thursday evening classes from February - March 2011

Class 1 Notes:

 * What do I want to display? What font is appropriate?
 * He usually uses "Arial 8"
 * In accounting, 1 line is for sub-total / 2 lines for total


 * Your Report is your work ... gotta think about how its gonna look to your supervisors
 * In Excel you want sheets linked so when you make 1 change they're all connected
 * linking + cell referencing are very crucial
 * when using excel always name the sheets


 * always have header/footer


 * always at least 2 ways to do something in Excel


 * accountants used to use "yellow sheets" "green sheets" and it was more difficult to catch mistakes
 * when doing an audit, check if stuff is hidden
 * when you do the homework write in word or excel


 * since we all know this is in US dollars there's no reason to put a dollar sign up there

In-Class Work

 * Pages 33 - 35 | Chapter 2 | Video Workshop | Data Management Skills
 * Page 48
 * "Data Alignment" Video
 * "Number and Font Formats" Video


 * When printing don't go below 65% in compression ratio (Scaling in Page Setup)
 * Internal reports don't need dollar signs, unless you have multiple currencies
 * For reports outside organization put dollar signs on first number of column, not all the way down.
 * Lots of pound signs (indicating column is too narrow) are only for numbers, not for text.

HANDING IN HOMEWORK

 * everything in Excel or Word.
 * Make sure you save the exercises.
 * When using formulas, do 2 print-outs one with formulas shown.
 * So he can see you're not just printing data.

Class 2 Notes

 * gross profit in cost accounting = contribution margin
 * remember one line is for sub-totals
 * less you do on a spreadsheet the better off you are
 * don't assume operation is always 7 days a week or 12 months a year ... might be less
 * gross margin more imp than gross profit?
 * on any financial statement you should have the percentages ... to see a trend
 * businesses have a 5 year cycle ... only thing that changes is if you keep expanding or contracting divisions
 * accounting is recording a value to put on something to see what you are doing

Class 3 Notes

 * Page 135?
 * When you get a house ... only put 1 person's salary on there ... and have 6 months of cash b4 you do anything
 * With formulas always count the open & closed parentheses
 * do not use excel for general ledger
 * can't control it
 * can use Excel for analysis and reports
 * spreadsheet is to save your time and control
 * British accounting are reversed: credits 1st, debits 2nd

In-Class Work

 * pg ? Monthly Mortgage Payments
 * pg 134 >>IF Functions
 * pg 135 >>Price Management
 * When doing "if" statements, nice to have someone helping ... a la going into the woods with a buddy.
 * Certain retail stores price 100% above cost ... includes stuff like "theft" ... markup goes
 * story of JC Penny
 * pg 146
 * With formulas once solved, go back to think of the logic behind them otherwise it just doesn't make sense ... copying formulas.
 * pg 184
 * Important not to use "delete" when you're playing around with charts?
 * When you're making a chart, make sure you highlight all the rows.
 * when you make a chart, you should switch to a new sheet right away.
 * pg 185 ... wants #'s in the bars themselves and if you want lines say the actual %'s
 * pg 272
 * general ledger = summarization of transactions of a corporation or a company
 * journals have detail: sales journal, purchase journal, payroll, acct's payable, receivable, general ... always have debit and credit ... in general always have description so ppl can see what you've done
 * use straight line depreciation for internal books to help managers make better decisions
 * need to know how all the #'s relate ... otherwise you don't understand
 * everything in trial balance should be all formulas. do not bring #'s over.

Class 4 Notes
10 March 2011

In-Class Work

 * page 251 >>NPV Function
 * pg 272
 * For US currency only spreadsheets, don't need dollar sign. If you're going to consolidate foreign and domestic accounts, need the $ sign.
 * In trial balance, putting an extra blank column between debits and credits can be useful to clearly seperate the columns visually.
 * Try to cut down the amount of data you're entering, use more cell referencing.
 * In "Adjustments" adding "a", "b", "c" or whatever next to adjustments can be useful as footnotes to keep track of all of your work.
 * Balance sheet is for a particular day, profit and loss is a statement of operations for the period.
 * Idea in a spreadsheet is not to re-type.
 * In "Final Trial Balance" it should be all formulas.