One $ pass, fifteen cells — anchors are where the speed lives.
The data team dropped the quarter’s revenue feed and the desk wants the buildout tonight. Start the model live off the feed, run the cost lines across the year — COGS and Opex ride the revenue line off the yellow assumptions, D&A comes straight off the asset schedule, so every quarter prices itself — get to EBITDA with the D&A added back, land the Fiscal Year totals, and close with the ratio block down to the EBITDA margin %. Filling beats retyping — the clock knows the difference.
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+).
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.”
Ctrl+D⌘D on macFill down from the cell above
Build the logic once in the top cell, select down, and stamp it — the standard way to fill a schedule.
functions you'll type: SUM()
the par-setting sequence, straight through:
B6 =B3 · fill B6:E6 → · select B7:E9 ctrl+r · B10 =SUM(B6:B9) · fill B10:F10 → · B10:F10 ctrl+b + alt h b p · F6 =SUM(B6:E6) · fill F6:F9 ↓ · B13 =B7/B$6 · ctrl+d down B13:B16 · ctrl+r across B13:F16 · ctrl+s