an income statement is one driver panel and four shapes — build the first year top-down, then take the block across.
The MD wants this case in the deck tonight and the projection page is still a shell: the actual year is in, the driver panel is set, and the depreciation line already links across from the schedule. Build the five forecast years off that panel — revenue grown once a year, the two cost lines carried negative, EBITDA and EBIT — mark the EBITDA line the way the deck reads it, and leave the margin memo underneath so the sponsor can see the story in one number.
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+1⌘1 on macOpen the Format Cells dialog
The master formatting dialog — number formats, alignment, borders in one place when a ribbon walk would take longer.
functions you'll type: SUM()
the par-setting sequence, straight through:
C4 =B4*(1+$B$14) · C5 =-C4*$B$15 · C6 =-C4*$B$16 · C7 =SUM(C4:C6) · select C4:G7 ctrl+r · A7:G7 ctrl+b + alt h b p · C9 =C7+C8 fill → · C11 =C7/C4 fill → + ctrl+1 p · ctrl+s