1. Head/title your spreadsheets. Company name, schedule name, who prepared, date prepared. If there is any question, state what currency everything is denominated in.
   
   
   
   
2. At a minimum, format your numbers with a commas and always right justify.
   
   
   
   
3. Use descriptive headings on all columns.
   
   
4. Subtotals should have single lines on the top and bottom of cell. Excel has a great built in tool for creating these.
   
   
   
   
5. Grand totals (the "bottom line") should have a double underline under them. See above.
   
   
6. Try using the fill tool to highlight or group numbers .
   
   
7. Use the Excel arrow tool to help show where numbers are coming from .
   
   
   
   
8. Always state what assumptions are underlying the more vague numbers you enter in a spreadsheet. You could use "old-style" footnotes at the bottom of your spreadsheet, but why do that when you can use Excel's really cool built-in Comment feature! Simply select the cell you want to make a comment on and the click on Insert | Comment. Comments can be printed/displayed or not-printed/not-diplayed in a variety of useful ways.
   
   
   
   
9. Use F2 to edit individual cells in the formula bar.

[on to Formulas]

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