The assignment was not an accident. Before being redeployed to Benin brewery, I had been involved in "validating" the numerous complex formulas in the custom Lotus 1θι spreadsheet application during its development. The author _ Richard Chambers _ was at the time in charge(as Training Coordinator) of training new entrants, and upon discovering my keen interest in learning, often gave me his laptop to "proof" formulas, links etc. It was he who had told his counterpart in Benin brewery(Joe Sheehy) that I could help out with a problem they were having using the application. And I did resolve the problem _ resulting in my subsequently becoming responsible for the reports collation using the application.
"Over_used/Over_spent"(Losses) and "Under_used/Under_spent"(Savings) _ on a monthly basis based on data entered, the program also automatically plotted charts showing trends over a 12 month period.
I am keen to encourage individuals and organisations to explore using advanced MS Excel formulas and functions, in conjunction with Excel VBA programming, to develop customised spreadsheet applications that will solve typical problems end_users encounter daily in trying to record/analyse data and generate reports.
The intelligent use of spreadsheets, combined with the application of the 80ᚼ rule will help to achieve the foregoing and more. One does not need any expert to start doing these things today. Just take the decision to start keeping daily, accurate records and commit to analysing them. You'll be surprised to find that you will soon become much more aware of how you're doing and what aspects of your business you should focus on more to get better returns for your efforts _ and you will be able to confidently supply verifiable/authentic financial data to back up any claims you make about your business performance to bankers or prospective investors.