#Budget calendar excel template free how to#

Alternatively, you can also link it to a cell value. Step 9: Add a title to your chart and remove unnecessary legend itemsĭouble click on the chart title and type something meaningful. If you are muggle, simply set the outline color to no line and you are gold. Select the lines (one at time) and yell gently reducto Feel free to adjust / experiment with various gap width combinations to see which works best for your eyes.Step 7: Adjust gap width and series overlap Quickly adjust the colors of each bar (don’t touch the lines yet) as you see fit. In earlier versions of Excel, you need to use either Insert ribbon or menu to do the same. Select either of the lines and use the + icon to insert up/down bars. Step 5: Add up / down bars to these lines In Excel 2013 or above, you will go to “Combination chart” screen and you can adjust the series types for all series from there. This step looks different in older versions of Excel, where you have to do it for each column. Right click on either of the newly added columns, choose “Change series chart type” and convert both of them to lines.

Step 4: Change the newly added columns to lines We now end up with a cluster of 4 columns per category, as shown below. Add budget and actual values to the chart again. It feels wrong, but trust me on this one. Step 3: Add Budget and Actual data again to the chart Simply select your category, budget and actual columns and insert a column chart (clustered). Calculate variance and variance % using simple formulas as shown below. Let’s say you have budgets and actual values for a bunch of categories (products, months, departments etc.) in this format.

#Budget calendar excel template free how to#

For instructions on how to create them in Excel, read along. If you are in a hurry to make such a chart, download the template, plug in your values and you are good to go.

So how about a drop dead gorgeous and insightful chart for your next meeting with the folks upstairs? Something like this:Ĭreate Budget vs Actual chart with smart labels in Excel – Tutorial Progress, KPIs, Performance charts, but they are the bread and butter of business charting.