Excel Video Tips: What-if Analysis

Excel Video Tips...

Download the Handout

You can download a free PDF document describing in detail the tools used in the video and illustrating the tutorial steps with screenshots. Follow the link below:

What-If_Analysis.pdf [686KB]

Excel's Business Tools: What-if Analysis

What-if analysis is an important aspect of planning and managing any business. Understanding the implications of changes in the factors that influence your business is crucial when it comes to making important business decisions. What would be the effect of an increase in your costs, or if turnover rose or fell by a certain amount? How would a change in interest rates or exchange rates affect your profits? Excel offers some easy-to-use tools to save time doing your calculations and help you make more accurate forecasts.

This video uses the simple example of a cash loan to demonstrate some of these tools. It makes use of Excel's PMT Function to calculate repayments on a loan, then shows how you can use the Goal Seek tool to manipulate variables such as the amount borrowed, repayment period and interest rate to arrive at a desired result. You will see how to use Data Tables to display a large number of calculations employing one or two variables and finally use Conditional Formatting to present the results in an easily understandable way.

This video has an audio commentary and is best viewed at 720p (HD) quality.

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