three statements, three wires — everything else is arithmetic.
The associate who built this pack left the three statements sitting side by side and never wired them together — net income never reaches the cash flow statement, cash never reaches the balance sheet, and retained earnings never absorbs the year. The VP reads it at eight. Build the three links, then build the check row under the balance sheet and bold it. Three zeros mean every wire is in.
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.”
the par-setting sequence, straight through:
link C8 → =C6 · C14 → =C12 · D18 → =C18+D6 · each line shift+→ then ctrl+r (or ctrl+↵) · C20 → =C16-C19 ctrl+r · ctrl+b + alt h b p · ctrl+s