Charts tell the real story: add pizzazz - and clarity - to a financial report.One of the most critical tasks of accountants is translating those dry columns of financial numbers into information that management can quickly comprehend. One effective tool is the chart, which graphically demonstrates what the numbers mean. But, as good as charts are, the traditional ones have an inherent weakness. For example, if you want to show how spiraling marketing costs, spent to boost sales, will deplete de·plete v. 1. To use up something, such as a nutrient. 2. To empty something out, as the body of electrolytes. profits, then the traditional chart probably lacks the punch you're trying to achieve. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , if the sales numbers are large and growing fast while the profits are relatively small and shrinking, a conventional chart of their relationship will not illustrate your point. The good news: That weakness is correctable. With a few adjustments, you can transform a lackluster chart into one that commands attention. Follow along and see how. Consider the chart in exhibit 1, below, which compares soaring Sales (the blue line) with ebbing Operating income Operating Income The profit realized from a business' own operations. Notes: This would not include income from things such as investments in other firms. Also referred to as operating profit or recurring profit. (the pink line). While it's clear that sales are rising, that slightly dipping pink line certainly isn't making the point that profits are collapsing. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Fortunately, Excel, which can easily convert tables into charts, has special ways to address such a situation. To illustrate we'll create a chart with the underlying spreadsheet data shown in exhibit 2, below. You may want to duplicate the chart and work along with me. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Once you've created the worksheet, hold down the Ctrl key while highlighting the header (row 4), Sales (row 5) and Operating income (row 9). When highlighted, they are shaded gray. Click on Insert on the toolbar A row or column of on-screen buttons used to activate functions in the application. Many toolbars are customizable, letting you add and delete buttons as required. Toolbars may be fixed in position or may float, which means they can be dragged to a more convenient location in the , then Chart to bring up the Chart Wizard (exhibit 3, below). Select the Custom Types tab and scroll down to Lines on 2 Axes. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Click twice on Next to get to Step 3 and then click on the Titles tab. Enter Snick's Snack Sales as the Chart title. Enter Sales in the Value (Y) axis field and Operating income in the Second value (Y) axis field (exhibit 4, below). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The default placement of the legend is to the right of the chart. To move it to another location in the chart, click on the Legend tab, click on another selection and wait a few seconds for the legend to appear. You can test each placement until you are satisfied with the results (exhibit 5, at right). Now press Next. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] To place the finished chart on the same worksheet as the data, simply click on Finish. If you wish to place it on a separate sheet, enter a new worksheet name, such as 2003 Chart, and then click on Finish (exhibit 6, below). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CHANGE LOCATION If you want to change its location after you have placed the chart on the data sheet, right-click inside the chart once and then click on Location from the menu. This will bring up the Chart Location window. But if you originally had placed the chart in its own worksheet and now you want to more it, you don't have to click on the chart; simply go to the menu bar at the top and select Chart and then Location to get the Chart Location window. To change a line color, right-click on it and choose Format Data Series (exhibit 7, page 45). Click on the Patterns tab and change the line color from Automatic and the Foreground marker color to the desired colors. Increase the thickness (Weight) of the line by clicking on the down arrow and by selecting a heavier line. Then click on OK. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You also can add data points for emphasis along the chart lines (exhibit 8, at left). To do that right-click on the Sales (blue) line and choose Format Data Series. Select the Data Labels tab and check the Value box. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] If necessary, you can reposition the data labels by right-clicking on one of them. Then select Format Data Labels and click on the Alignment tab and change the label position. To enhance the emphasis, you also can change the scale on one of both Y-axes. Compare the difference between exhibit 8 and exhibit 9, at left. To do that, right-click on the primary (left vertical) Y-axis and select Format Axis from the shortcut (1) In Windows, a shortcut is an icon that points to a program or data file. Shortcuts can be placed on the desktop or stored in other folders, and double clicking a shortcut is the same as double clicking the original file. menu. Choose the Scale tab and change Minimum from the default of 0 to 20,000. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] As you can see, you can transform numbers into effective, easy-to-understand pictures. So get familiar with Excel's chart functions to send the message you want. Key to Instructions To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we use two different typefaces This is a list of typefaces. Serif Here you can find a graphical version of this table.
Boldface See boldface font. type is used to identify the names of icons, agendas and URLs. Sans serif Short horizontal lines added to the tops and bottoms of traditional typefaces, such as Times Roman. Contrast with sans-serif.  type indicates commands and instructions that users should type into the computer and the names of files. AICPA AICPA See American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). RESOURCE TECH Conference May 2-5, 2004 Venetian Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. TERILYANN GLANDON, CPA (Computer Press Association, Landing, NJ) An earlier membership organization founded in 1983 that promoted excellence in computer journalism. Its annual awards honored outstanding examples in print, broadcast and electronic media. The CPA disbanded in 2000. , PhD, is an assistant professor of accounting at the University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso, popularly known as UTEP, is a public, coeducational university, and it is a member of the University of Texas System. The school is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, in El Paso, Texas, and is the largest university in the . Her e-mail address See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address is tglandon@utep.edu. |
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