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For many African startups, it’s a long road to stardom. About 70% of small and medium scale enterprises fail within the first five years, but, for relentless entrepreneurs trying to get their companies off the ground, there is hope. A growing number of inexpensive applications are available to aid the quest for survival and growth. From financial modeling to number crushing and data analysis, there’s an almost nothing within the realm of numbers that Microsoft Excel doesn’t offer.
Microsoft Excel is ideal for entering, calculating and analyzing company data such as sales figures, taxes or commissions. An Excel program can turn a spreadsheet of numbers into a pie chart, bar diagram or a variety of other visual diagrams. Excel can also be used to store text-based data such as client lists, employee data and mailing lists. Here are three things you can use Microsoft Excel for:
Company Reports
You can use Excel to create company reports. Excel can be used to create supporting data for a written report which might include selecting a particular range of data by date, department or personnel. Monthly sales reports can be created according to customer, manufacturer or sales personnel using Excel’s data sorting and selection which is based on previously defining data by department name, manufacturer or acquisition date. Examples of company reports might include financial summaries, compliance documents or personnel reports.
Research
Businesses often investigate and research possible business or production models in “what-if” scenarios. These scenarios might illustrate comparisons among pricing structures, the cost of doing business in different markets or the cost of production using different manufacturers.
Excel can store and calculate the data as directed using existing or new data. The data and calculations can be stored in separate workbooks.
Financial Modeling
Financial modeling is often used by finance professionals, entrepreneurs, investors and so on to make a variety of investment decisions. This feature can also be used to evaluate complex scenarios with multiple options like revenue projections and future values of investments. The overall opportunity is to integrate financial concepts with accessible but powerful Excel tools to facilitate greater analytical accuracy and rapid investment analysis.
To reduce financial cost, and generate competitive advantage for your enterprise, Microsoft Excel is a tool you ought to have on all your devices.
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