{"id":2376,"date":"2019-10-14T10:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T15:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/?p=2376"},"modified":"2020-10-05T15:59:13","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T20:59:13","slug":"small-business-owners-guide-excel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Small Business Owner’s Guide to Excel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft Excel has been a cornerstone application for businesses since it landed in 1985<\/a>. For some small business owners, it is a necessary evil \u2013 but for others, it\u2019s the Swiss army knife of software, capable of being far more useful than it looks on the surface. How can you use Excel to solve everyday problems in your business?<\/p>\n

The first computer spreadsheet was invented and coded by a Harvard Business School student named Dan Bricklin<\/a> in the late 1970s. Bricklin realized that the traditional, manual way of keeping accounts was slow and laborious. By automating elements of the accounting process, Bricklin was able to free up business managers\u2019 time to concentrate on more human, creative tasks.<\/p>\n

Bricklin\u2019s VisiCalc software is said to have been the first \u2018killer app\u2019<\/a> \u2013 software so useful that you would be happy to buy a whole computer just to access it. Microsoft followed Bricklin\u2019s cue and launched Excel to great success in the 1980s. The versatility of Excel and its eventual integration with the rest of Microsoft\u2019s Office suite have made the software so popular that Excel is often used as the generic name for \u2018spreadsheet.\u2019<\/p>\n

With Excel, a simple six-column grid can help you track your business\u2019s finances. It is straightforward to set up formulas so that the math happens automatically \u2013 correcting your totals if you change a figure in the spreadsheet. But that is just the start of what\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n

These formulas can work across spreadsheets<\/a>. Once you start to keep an Excel record of your inventory and to create invoices in Excel, the numbers will tally between pages and your spreadsheets should \u2018speak\u2019 to each other. Many small business owners also integrate payroll and cashflow forecasts into this set-up.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not all math. Excel shares similar formatting capabilities with Word and other Microsoft interfaces. Coupled with Excel\u2019s grid format, these functions make it straightforward to create working documents such as schedules and equipment inventory lists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve put together a thorough guide with the latest ideas and tips for small business owners to make the most of Microsoft Excel. It shows just how much time and effort you can save if you build your Excel workflow one sheet at a time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s simple to get started with Excel, and once you\u2019re up and running, you\u2019ll wonder how you ever got things done the old way.<\/p>\n

\"excel<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Office. (2019). Profit and loss statement (with logo)<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Office. (2019). Invoices<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. AccountingWeb. (2018). How to build an Excel cash flow forecast<\/a>. accountingweb.co.uk<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Office. (2019). Employee timecard<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Office. (2019). Payroll calculator<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. Office. (2019). Employee absence schedule<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  7. Office. (2019). Inventory list with reorder highlighting<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  8. Office. (2019). Fixed asset record with depreciation<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  9. Office. (2019). Equipment inventory list<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  10. Vertex42. (2019). Kanban Board Template<\/a>. vertex42.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  11. Office Timeline. (2019). Using Excel for Project Management<\/a>. officetimeline.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  12. Vertex42. (2019). CRM Template<\/a>. vertex42.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  13. Office. (2019). Fill data automatically in worksheet cells<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  14. Office. (2019). Use formulas with conditional formatting<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  15. Ablebits. (2019). How to use Flash Fill in Excel 2019, 2016 and 2013<\/a>. ablebits.com<\/strong><\/li>\n
  16. Office. (2019). Create a forecast in Excel for Windows<\/a>. office.com<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Office. (2019). Automate tasks with the Macro Recorder.<\/a> office.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Microsoft Excel has been a cornerstone application for businesses since it landed in 1985. For some small business owners, it …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[613],"tags":[437,438,439,96],"class_list":["post-2376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology-and-tools","tag-excel","tag-excel-guide","tag-excel-how-to","tag-infographic"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Small Business Owner's Guide to Excel - Headway Capital Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Use our guide with the latest tips for small business owners to make the most of Microsoft Excel. Save time and budget better. one sheet at a time.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Small Business Owner's Guide to Excel - Headway Capital Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Use our guide with the latest tips for small business owners to make the most of Microsoft Excel. Save time and budget better. one sheet at a time.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Headway Capital Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-14T15:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-05T20:59:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Header_The-small-business-owners-guide-to-Excel.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"792\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Barbara Davidson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Barbara Davidson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Small Business Owner's Guide to Excel - Headway Capital Blog","description":"Use our guide with the latest tips for small business owners to make the most of Microsoft Excel. Save time and budget better. one sheet at a time.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Small Business Owner's Guide to Excel - Headway Capital Blog","og_description":"Use our guide with the latest tips for small business owners to make the most of Microsoft Excel. Save time and budget better. one sheet at a time.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/","og_site_name":"Headway Capital Blog","article_published_time":"2019-10-14T15:00:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-05T20:59:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":792,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Header_The-small-business-owners-guide-to-Excel.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Barbara Davidson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Barbara Davidson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/"},"author":{"name":"Barbara Davidson","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2a7d24c83c64e65baa516eb664059c59"},"headline":"The Small Business Owner’s Guide to Excel","datePublished":"2019-10-14T15:00:44+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-05T20:59:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/"},"wordCount":545,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Header_The-small-business-owners-guide-to-Excel.png","keywords":["excel","excel guide","excel how to","Infographic"],"articleSection":["Technology and Tools"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/","name":"The Small Business Owner's Guide to Excel - Headway Capital Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Header_The-small-business-owners-guide-to-Excel.png","datePublished":"2019-10-14T15:00:44+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-05T20:59:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2a7d24c83c64e65baa516eb664059c59"},"description":"Use our guide with the latest tips for small business owners to make the most of Microsoft Excel. Save time and budget better. one sheet at a time.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Header_The-small-business-owners-guide-to-Excel.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Header_The-small-business-owners-guide-to-Excel.png","width":792,"height":400,"caption":"excel guide"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/small-business-owners-guide-excel\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Technology and Tools","item":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/category\/technology-and-tools\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Small Business Owner’s Guide to Excel"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/","name":"Headway Capital Blog","description":"Your source for the latest news, tools, tips and resources to help your small business succeed.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2a7d24c83c64e65baa516eb664059c59","name":"Barbara Davidson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/07\/babs-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/07\/babs-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/07\/babs-150x150.jpg","caption":"Barbara Davidson"},"description":"Babs is Lead Content Strategist and financial guru. She loves exploring fresh ways to save more and enjoy life on a budget! When she\u2019s not writing, you\u2019ll find her binge-watching musicals, reading in the (sporadic) Chicago sunshine and discovering great new places to eat. Accio, tacos!\u00a0","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/author\/bdavidsonenova-com\/"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2376"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2472,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376\/revisions\/2472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}