Boyan Yonkov
Spreadsheet
Modeling –
Assignment 1
Contents
Task 1 - Report on what spreadsheets are used for and how they can solve complex problems........................1
Cash flow forecasting..................................................................................................................................... 2
Budget control............................................................................................................................................... 2
Sales forecasting............................................................................................................................................ 3
Manipulating Complex Data........................................................................................................................... 3
Payroll Projections.......................................................................................................................................... 4
Perform Calculations...................................................................................................................................... 4
Present information clearly and effectively.................................................................................................... 5
Support Decision making................................................................................................................................ 5
Goal Seeking................................................................................................................................................... 5
What If Scenarios........................................................................................................................................... 6
Task 2 – Extended Report................................................................................................................................... 6
Statistical Analysis.......................................................................................................................................... 6
Trend Analysis................................................................................................................................................ 7
Task 1 - Report on what spreadsheets are
used for and how they can solve complex
problems
1
, Boyan Yonkov
Spreadsheets are a powerful tool that can solve complex problems. Some of the features and tools that
spreadsheets offer are:
Cash flow forecasting
Cash flow forecasting is very important to businesses as they allow them to plan and show how much money
their business is expected to make and spend over a given period of time. Spreadsheets allow you to do this
efficiently and as accurate as possible by providing a couple of functions. One of these functions is the
FORECAST function the returns a prediction on a future value by using existing values that have been
provided, this is a built in Excel function. The other thing that spreadsheets provide you with is What if
analysis which allows you to try out with a number of different values or scenarios in order to calculate the
end result. This means you can try a number of different situations you think might happen and it will
calculate the results quickly and efficiently. If you were to try and do this using a paper system, it will take
you a very long time and you would have to do all calculations and writing out yourself over and over.
Budget control
Another tool that spreadsheets offer is budget control. This is a system that allows you to compare actual
income and spending to planned income and spending in order for you to see if the plans are being followed
and if something needs to change. This can also help businesses figure out whether or not the members of
staff are doing their jobs as they should be. The functions in excel that can help you with budget planning and
budget control are the SUM function – which is used very often to add up the total of a number of values
(e.g. sum of all incomes), Charts – that can help you visualise things and make the analysis easier for you,
difference calculations – you can use excel to calculate the differences in values to help you compare actual
expenses and income to planned expenses and income. This can be a very useful tool to the business as they
can do this on paper but if they just used spreadsheets it would make their job a lot easier and the
information can be presented better for easier analysis.
2
Spreadsheet
Modeling –
Assignment 1
Contents
Task 1 - Report on what spreadsheets are used for and how they can solve complex problems........................1
Cash flow forecasting..................................................................................................................................... 2
Budget control............................................................................................................................................... 2
Sales forecasting............................................................................................................................................ 3
Manipulating Complex Data........................................................................................................................... 3
Payroll Projections.......................................................................................................................................... 4
Perform Calculations...................................................................................................................................... 4
Present information clearly and effectively.................................................................................................... 5
Support Decision making................................................................................................................................ 5
Goal Seeking................................................................................................................................................... 5
What If Scenarios........................................................................................................................................... 6
Task 2 – Extended Report................................................................................................................................... 6
Statistical Analysis.......................................................................................................................................... 6
Trend Analysis................................................................................................................................................ 7
Task 1 - Report on what spreadsheets are
used for and how they can solve complex
problems
1
, Boyan Yonkov
Spreadsheets are a powerful tool that can solve complex problems. Some of the features and tools that
spreadsheets offer are:
Cash flow forecasting
Cash flow forecasting is very important to businesses as they allow them to plan and show how much money
their business is expected to make and spend over a given period of time. Spreadsheets allow you to do this
efficiently and as accurate as possible by providing a couple of functions. One of these functions is the
FORECAST function the returns a prediction on a future value by using existing values that have been
provided, this is a built in Excel function. The other thing that spreadsheets provide you with is What if
analysis which allows you to try out with a number of different values or scenarios in order to calculate the
end result. This means you can try a number of different situations you think might happen and it will
calculate the results quickly and efficiently. If you were to try and do this using a paper system, it will take
you a very long time and you would have to do all calculations and writing out yourself over and over.
Budget control
Another tool that spreadsheets offer is budget control. This is a system that allows you to compare actual
income and spending to planned income and spending in order for you to see if the plans are being followed
and if something needs to change. This can also help businesses figure out whether or not the members of
staff are doing their jobs as they should be. The functions in excel that can help you with budget planning and
budget control are the SUM function – which is used very often to add up the total of a number of values
(e.g. sum of all incomes), Charts – that can help you visualise things and make the analysis easier for you,
difference calculations – you can use excel to calculate the differences in values to help you compare actual
expenses and income to planned expenses and income. This can be a very useful tool to the business as they
can do this on paper but if they just used spreadsheets it would make their job a lot easier and the
information can be presented better for easier analysis.
2
