Author Archives: Robert Ryan

About Robert Ryan

Robert F. Ryan, MBA, CPA, is an independent business consultant, educator, writer, and finance leader in a Fortune 50 multinational company. He has a passion for simplicity, quality, efficiency, and a unique ability to explain things to people, so they understand quickly and thoroughly. He's worked with spreadsheets extensively for almost thirty years, including VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3, and Excel.

Free Workbook to Record Actuals and Budget, and Compare Actuals vs Budget

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Robert Ryan

In honor of Spreadsheet Day, 2011, I’ve prepared a workbook where a person with minimal knowledge of Excel can enter amounts they actually earned and spent, enter a budget for a month, and have Excel automatically show them a comparison … Continue reading →

Posted in Excel PivotTables | 4 Comments

Check out the 2011 Challenge: 30 Excel Functions in 30 Days at Contextures.com

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Robert Ryan

Want to quickly learn more about Excel from one of the best? If so, please be sure to check out the 2011 Challenge: 30 Excel Functions in 30 Days being presented by Debra Dalgleish. Debra is the author of Contextures.com, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Copying (Not) With Filters On

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Robert Ryan

Excel’s filters offer an extremely powerful way to analyze information, but I avoid copying when filters are activated. I’ll explain why in this article, and show you another, safer technique to use. Click this link to open an Excel 2007 … Continue reading →

Posted in Excel Filters | Leave a comment

How to Avoid Disaster When Sorting

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Robert Ryan

Sorting is another powerful feature of Excel, but if we’re not careful, we can create a problem from which only Undo can rescue us, and if we can’t Undo, we’re sunk. Let me explain. Click this link to open an … Continue reading →

Posted in Excel Sorting | Leave a comment

Using Default Worksheets

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Robert Ryan

I ended last week’s blog introducing the concept of a default worksheet that we could insert at any time in any workbook to help make copying page formats even faster and easier.  In today’s blog, we’ll actually save a default … Continue reading →

Posted in Default Worksheet, Excel Copy Formats | 1 Comment