Excel Lesson 01: Creating a Personal Budget or “You’ve got to be crazy, Mr. Platten for expecting us to do this assignment!”

For this lesson, you will need to create a personal budget.  Please make sure you have done the exercises at your disposal in: Introduction to Microsoft Excel before embarking on this assignment. If you’d like to see an example, click here.

Your grade will be based on the following; (160 points total)

1.                   Your name clearly shown on the page. (2 points)

2.                   A title for this spreadsheet. (2 points)

3.                   All 12 months of the year clearly shown. (12 points)

4.                   A cell entitled Income. (1 point)

5.                   At least 4 different sources of income. (4 points)

6.                   For each month, you must have some indication of income shown. (12 points)

7.                   A cell entitled Total Income. (1 point)

8.                   A range of cells that is the calculation for the Total Income that is the sum of all income for each month. hint – use AutoSum. I will be checking for formulas. (12 points)

9.                   A cell entitled Expenses. (1 point)

10.               At least 4 different sources of expenses. (4 points)

11.               For each month, you must have some indication of expenses shown. (12 points)

12.               A cell entitled Total Expenses. (1 point)

13.               A range of cells that is the calculation for the Total Expenses that is the sum of all expenses for each month. hint – use AutoSum.  Once again, I will be checking formulas. (12 points)

14.               A cell entitled Balance. (1 point)

15.               A range of cells that is the calculation for the Balance that is the result of subtracting the amount in your Total Expenses column from the amount in your Total Income column for each month. (12 points)

16.               A cell entitled Running Balance.(1 point)

17.               A range of cells that is the calculation of your Balance added to the number from the previous month’s Running Balance for each month. Make sure your Running Balance formula for the month of January equals the amount of your Balance from the month of January.(24 points)

18.               A cell entitled Year Total. (1 point)

19.               For each source of income, you will need to have a calculation for the entire year. hint – use AutoSum. (2 points for each source of income shown - no more than 8 sources total)

20.               You must also have a calculation for the full year’s Total Income. hint – use AutoSum. (2 points)

21.               For each category of expenses, you will need to have a calculation for the entire year. hint – use AutoSum. (2 points for each category of expense shown - no more than 8 sources total)

22.               You must also have a calculation for the full year’s Total Expenses. hint – use AutoSum. (2 points)

23.               A cell entitled Final Balance. (1 point)

24.              A calculation that is the result of subtracting the final amount from the year’s Total Expenses from the year’s Total Income. (10 points)

25.              The final amount in your Running Balance in December should match the final amount in your Final Balance. (O24 and N25 in my example) If it doesn’t, you messed up somewhere. (10 points)

26.              All numbers should have a currency format showing 2 digits after the decimal. You’ll need to select all the cells that have numbers and choose Cells under Format or just click on the dollar sign on you tool bar. (you’ll have to select all the cells first) (10 points)

27.              Don’t make your budget spreadsheet have all the same numbers as mine. (That’s called plagiarism and that would be considered cheating.)

28.              Also, if you use the same sources of income or categories of expense that I use, don’t place them in the same order. That’s also cheating. I realize my choices for income are pretty commonplace, but your choices for expenses should be different. Remember, I give points for creativity. This budget doesn’t have to be for you in the year 2008. You could be a multi-millionaire. (hint...hint)

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