Sometimes you have two (or more) trial balances for different accounting periods which you need to compare. If the list of trial balance accounts changed from one period to another, it may become difficult to match the accounts side by side. This lecture provides an easy way to build a comparable trial balance for two or more (truly, unlimited as long as Excel spreadsheet can handle) number of periods using function Vlookup.

This lecture suggests a fast way to create comparative trial balances using Excel pivot tables. The below technique provides essentially same results as Tip #1, which uses formulas instead of pivot tables. If you are more comfortable with Excel formulas (sum, if, iserror and vlookup), then you can find lecture on using vlookup more practicable. This lecture with pivot tables may be more appealing to people who prefer them.

This lecture explains how to fill down values in cells using Excel If function. This technique will be useful if you need to fill in values in columns and such values change on different rows.

This lecture explains how to use vlookup function in Excel. One example is provided to illustrate the power of this function. Vlookup is a very strong function that makes an Excel user's life easier and more efficient.

This lecture explains how to use sumif function in Excel. Two examples are provided to illustrate the power of this function. Sumif is quite useful in summarizing data. Actually, one can use a pivot table or sumif function to present simple summation of numbers based on a criteria, and sumif can be more flexible than a pivot table in some situations.