◆ Formulas II · drill · Spreadsheet Formulas & Data track
Make it tie — hunt the break
Rebuild the instrument before you trust the reading — a check row of pasted zeros hides exactly what it was built to show.
A four-year balance sheet that does not agree with itself, and someone pasted zeros over the check row so it looks like it does. Three things are wrong on this page. Rebuild the check row first — it is the instrument, and it will show you which years break — then run down both causes and close the page.
The shortcuts in this drill
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.
functions you'll type: SUM()
The optimal line
the par-setting sequence, straight through:
C17 → =C9-C15 · ctrl+r across · one Total assets starts a row short — re-span it over 4:8 · one Equity cell is typed — roll it forward off the prior year + the NI memo · ctrl+b the check row · ctrl+s
More Formulas II drills