Chapter 16: Functions for Financial Analysis

Overview

With the financial functions provided with Microsoft Office Excel 2007, you can perform common business calculations, such as net present value and future value, without building long and complex formulas. These functions are the heart of spreadsheets-the word spreadsheet itself refers to the seemingly antiquated system of using special grid paper to track financial information. Functions have taken the place of the old 10-key calculator sequences (algorithms) used by accounting professionals before computers revolutionized the discipline.

Office Excel 2007 offers more than 50 financial functions, and in this chapter, we'll touch on most of them, with special emphasis on those most often used, needed, or misunderstood. For complete information about all the built-in functions that Excel has to offer, you can use some on-screen tools, covered in "Using the Built-in Function Reference in Excel" on page 487.