MGM272

Business Applications of Technology

Assignment / Project   Number  04

Spreadsheet Formulas, Cell References, Replication

Project 01 through Project 03 reviewed computer software skills that many students were already familiar with.  Project 04 will be more difficult to complete without instruction unless you already have some experience with spreadsheets beyond the very basic level.  Remember that your instructor is not fond of answering questions outside of class that you would have known the answers to if you had attended class.  Also, revisit this link.

This project is about more of MS-Excel, and in particular about how to write some simple arithmetic formulas into spreadsheets.  It is also about copying formulas and about "relative" and "absolute" references to items in a spreadsheet.  And it is when you will learn about printing out the formulas behind the numbers displayed in a spreadsheet.

In class we will talk about how to write some simple arithmetic formulas, about copying formulas, and about "relative" and "absolute" references.  As an example, we will use a simple analysis of a financial statement and calculate the percentage change of some of the items on the financial statement.

The mathematical formula for Percentage Change is:
     PCT-CHANGE = 100 * (NEW-OLD) / OLD

In that example, we will also calculate the Relative Percentage for some of the items on the financial statement.  The mathematical formula for Relative Percentage is:
     RELATIVE-PCT = 100 * ITEMVALUE / BASEVALUE.

Accountants call these two types of analyses 1) horizontal analysis and 2) vertical analysis.  You can click here for an example of these kinds of analysis using financial data from the company that produces Budweiser beer.  

Your assignment will be to create an MS-Excel Spreadsheet, similar to the example, that contains a horizontal and vertical analysis of the financial data from the Coors Brewing Company.  The basic financial data that you should use for Coors is available by clicking here.

You will need to turn in the following to the instructor on the date this assignment is due (check the class schedule):
  1) PRINTOUT #1:  A printed copy of your spreadsheet, showing the numbers in each cell,
       with your name and course ID number in the upper left corner.
  2) PRINTOUT #2:  A printed copy of your spreadsheet, showing the formulas in each cell,
       with your name and course ID number in the upper left corner.
  3) DISK FILE:  A copy of the disk file on which you have saved your spreadsheet. 
       The name of the file on the disk should be "beer.xls"
       The label on the disk should have YOUR NAME, and the words:
       ASSIGNMENT #04 -- FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
  4) OTHER:  The above items are all that is required for this assignment.

You might want to check the instructor's remarks on how this project was graded the last time it was assigned by clicking here.