Excel Auditing

The Toolbar and Menus

Displaying Formulas
Printing for Debugging
Excel Auditing
Contents

The Toolbar and Menus

An Example of Tracing Precedents and Dependents

1. The Toolbar and Menus

Turn on the Formula Auditing toolbar or access the same commands
by choosing Tools, Formula Auditing from Excel's menus.

2. An Example of Tracing Precendents and Dependents

Click the cell for which you want to trace precedents or dependents.
Then click the appropriate Auditing toolbar button or menu option.
To turn off auditing marks, click the eraser button or choose
"Remove all arrows" from the menus.
Displaying Formulas
Choose Tools, Options, select the "View" tab, and click on "Formulas"
to see formulas displayed in a worksheet. It's often a good idea to make
a COPY of the worksheet first, then display formulas in the copy.
To easily copy a worksheet choose Edit, Move or Copy Sheet from
Excel's menus.

The worksheet displayed normally:

Actual Projected
September October November December Totals

45,690.00 47,974.50 50,259.00 54,828.00 198,751.50

7,490.00 7,864.50 8,239.00 8,988.00 32,581.50
65,307.50 68,572.88 71,838.25 78,369.00 284,087.63
$118,488 $124,412 $130,336 $142,185 $515,421

6,500.00 6,825.00 6,825.00 7,280.00 27,430.00

2,000.00 2,100.00 2,100.00 2,240.00 8,440.00
490.00 514.50 514.50 548.80 2,067.80
900.00 945.00 945.00 1,008.00 3,798.00
350.00 367.50 367.50 392.00 1,477.00
$10,240 $10,752 $10,752 $11,469 $43,213

$108,248 $113,660 $119,584 $130,716 $472,208

Part of the worksheet with formulas displayed. Note that you may need to
widen columns to see the entire contents of long formulas.
Printing for Debugging
Along with viewing or printing a worksheet with formulas displayed,
another useful technique is to print a worksheet with gridlines and
row and column indicators shown. This can make it easier to examine
relationships and discuss worksheet contents with others.

Actual Projected
September October November December Totals

45,690.00 47,974.50 50,259.00 54,828.00 198,751.50

7,490.00 7,864.50 8,239.00 8,988.00 32,581.50
65,307.50 68,572.88 71,838.25 78,369.00 284,087.63
$118,488 $124,412 $130,336 $142,185 $515,421
A sample worksheet

Part of the sample printed with gridlines and row and column headers shown.
The Page Setup dialog box with the "Sheet" tab brought to the front.
In the "Print" section choose "Gridlines" and "Row and column headings".