You can enter formulas into the cells in a worksheet. These formulas can reference cells in different worksheets, working rows or comparison rows. Rather than including more complex spreadsheet functions, Budgets and Forecasts keeps a level of simplicity by allowing for basic arithmetic in these formulas.
Enter a basic formula
You enter formulas in a similar way to how you do it in other spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, either directly into a cell or in the fx (formula) bar at the top of the grid when the cell is selected.
It is easy to identify and understand formulas in Budgets and Forecasts. When a cell contains a formula, the cell value has a blue fx indicator next to it. You can hover over this indicator to view the formula or click a cell and view the formula in the fx bar.
Refer to other cells in formulas
To enter more advanced formulas, you can refer to values in other cells in the same worksheet, including those in comparison, sum and working lines, and in other worksheets (driver tabs).
When you view a formula in the fx bar, a description of the referenced cell displays, along with a colored dot corresponding to that cell. So you can easily see what you’re calculating, rather than just a reference to a cell number.
The following examples might be useful in your budget or forecast worksheet.
Your IT Computer Costs are a function of wages. In the formula below, the IT costs are 2% of AU wages.
You added a Manual Entry Driver tab (which is named Assumptions) in which you entered an AUD exchange rate. You want to use that rate to calculate the budgeted cost of the Australian Conference. In the formula below, the Conference - AUD value is multiplied by the exchange rate in the Assumptions tab.
You want the Sales budget values for this year to be ten percent higher than last year’s actuals. In the formula below, the April 2021 sales value is made up of the actual value from 2021 plus ten percent.
As with other values, you can copy and paste cells that contain formulas, and you can control how those formulas behave when they are copied into other cells. In the majority of cases, the cell references are relative by default but you can switch to absolute references, if required (see below).
Use functions in formulas
You can use several functions during your formula entry, as listed in the following table.
You do not need to type in the full function name, simply start typing and select the function from the list that displays.
Copy and paste formulas (relative v absolute references)
To save time, you can copy and paste formulas. When you copy a formula, the pasted formula might have an absolute or relative reference, depending on the situation, as outlined below. You can quickly switch between these reference types to meet your formula needs.
Use relative referencing
With relative referencing, the cell references adjust automatically in the target cell. In other words, the references change when the formula is copied into other cells, relative to the position (row and column) of the formula.
In the following example, the formula in DL > September 2022 cell references the value in the FL > September 2022 cell. When that formula is copied into the next cell, the reference is relative (the month changes), so the reference part of the formula changes to become FL > September 2022.
When you copy formulas in a budget or forecast worksheet, the cell references in the target cells are relative by default in the following situations:
When you use the copy forward feature. For example, if a cell references January data, when you copy the cell to February, it will reference February data.
When you copy a formula that references a comparison row. This applies both to formulas copied to the same row and to different rows from the original cell.
When you copy a formula that references a working row. For example, if the original cell has two working rows and a formula references both of those rows, copying the formula to a cell which has two or more working rows will result in a relative formula being pasted into the target cells. The target cells need to have the same working row offset.
When you copy a formula that references a cell in one level into a target cell in a different entity in the same level. For example, if you copy a formula in Branch A’s Cost of Goods Sold, which references sales in Branch A, and paste it into Branch B’s Cost of Goods Sold, the formula will reference to Branch B’s sales.
Use absolute referencing
With absolute referencing, the cell references are locked. In other words, the references do not change when the formula is copied into other cells.
When you copy formulas in a budget or forecast worksheet, the cell references in the target cells are absolute by default in only one situation; when you copy forward a cell in the Total column, i.e. the formula will always reference the total.
You can change the default relative references listed above to absolute references (see next section below). Following on from the example above, if you manually switch to absolute referencing, you can see the dollar sign in the formula denotes the absolute reference and the reference part of the formula is the same in both cells; FL > September 2022.
Switch from relative to absolutive referencing (or vice versa)
Enter the formula into the required cell, then in the formula bar, select the reference element of the formula and press F4. A dollar sign then displays next to the date in the formula to identify it is an absolute reference.
In the following example, you switch from a relative to absolute formula.
