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I’m pretty good at Excel.
But here’s the truth:
I only use three advanced Excel formulas on a regular basis.
Don’t get me wrong -- Excel has some incredible functionality.
But I still find a lot of it complicated (and honestly, unnecessary for day-to-day modeling).
Here are the only "advanced" formulas I really use:
- INDEX/MATCH (warming up to XLOOKUP)
- SUMIFS
- SUMPRODUCT
Btw, these are usually for summary tabs -- not the detailed guts of the model.
(Think dashboards)
Everywhere else, I live here:
– SUM
– AVERAGE
– Direct cell links ( = )
– Plus ( + )
– Minus ( - )
– Divide ( / )
– Multiply ( x )
That’s 95% of my modeling.
Yes, sometimes I have to get fancy and calculate IRR or use dynamic array functions.
Or combine a few of the functions above to achieve a result.
But those moments are rare -- especially in standard FP&A operating models.
And after all these years, I’ve learned one thing:
💡 The business will always complicate the file. Don’t let the file complicate the business.
So, keep it simple where you can (to be user-friendly).
Make it scalable on the back-end (to reduce error).
And only complicate it when you truly have to.
—Chris
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