◆ Formulas II · drill · Spreadsheet Formulas & Data track
Make it balance
Retained earnings is a given, not a plug — the check proves the sheet, it never fixes it.
Three years of balance sheet, both sides typed and neither one totalled. Retained earnings is a given here, like every other line — nothing on this page is backed into. Foot the assets, foot the liabilities and equity, then build the check row under them and close it. The check reads zero because the statement is right, not because anything was plugged.
The shortcuts in this drill
Alt walks: tap Alt, release, then the letters in sequence — each key steps one ribbon menu. On a Mac, tap ⌥ and use the same letters (KeyTips, Excel 2024+).
Shift+→⇧→ on macExtend selection one cell
Nudge a selection one cell at a time when the block you need doesn’t end at a data edge.
Ctrl+R⌘R on macFill right from the cell to the left
Same as fill down, but across — one quarter’s formula becomes the whole year in two keystrokes.
Ctrl+B⌘B on macBold
Bold marks structure: titles, total rows, anything the reviewer’s eye should land on first.
Alt h b p⌥ h b p on macTop border
Top border above a total row — the accounting ruling that says “this line sums the ones above.”
functions you'll type: SUM()
The optimal line
the par-setting sequence, straight through:
foot C10 → =SUM(C4:C9) · C17 → =SUM(C12:C16) · each line ctrl+r across · ctrl+b + alt h b p both totals · C19 → =C10-C17 ctrl+r · ctrl+b · ctrl+s
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