BOTE 347 – Last Excel Project: Use Your Ski

BOTE 347 – “Last†Excel Project Excel Project: use your skills in problem solving, creative thinking, and Excel

Use your skills in problem solving, creative thinking, and Excel to create a worksheet that will provide a “check register” type of format/layout for a community park district treasurer. The spreadsheet must track all transactions—receipts and expenditures—with appropriate categories, totaling, and running balances. Include columns for Date, Amount, Check/Reference Number, Recipient, and Item Description. Deposit categories include donations, concessions, and tickets; expenditure categories include uniforms, marketing, operating & maintenance, salaries, and concessions. The spreadsheet should also feature a total row at the bottom for each category and a running balance column to reflect cumulative totals after each transaction. Plan your layout prior to creating the sheet, and ensure the final document is well-formatted with proper headings, data entry, and formatting.

Paper For Above instruction

Creating an effective check register in Excel involves a combination of meticulous planning, organized layout, and precise data entry. In this project, I will develop a comprehensive Excel worksheet that accurately tracks the financial transactions of a community park district, serving as the treasurer’s primary tool for managing the budget. The process encompasses planning the structure, formatting the data, and implementing formulas to automate calculations, ensuring clear visibility of the financial health of the organization.

To begin, I planned the layout of the spreadsheet on paper to optimize clarity and functionality. The essential columns include Date, Description, Recipient, Check/Reference Number, Amount, Category, and Running Balance. The Category column differentiates between deposits and expenditures, with specific subcategories: donations, concessions, and tickets for deposits; uniforms, marketing, operating & maintenance, salaries, and concessions for expenditures. This detailed categorization facilitates targeted analysis and makes reporting straightforward.

The Date column records when each transaction occurs, providing chronological clarity. The Description column details the nature of each transaction, such as “Donation from Anonymous” or “Payment to ABC Repair for mower.” The Recipient or payee name helps identify who received or paid money. The Check/Reference Number aids in tracking payments and reconciling bank statements. The Amount column records the transaction value, with positive values for deposits and negative values for expenditures.

Designing the worksheet, I included a Total row at the bottom of each category, summing all relevant deposit and expenditure entries, using the SUM function. This allows quick assessment of total income and expenses in each category. The Running Balance column updates with each transaction, using a formula that adds deposits and subtracts expenditures to provide real-time account balance. This approach ensures transparency and helps prevent overdrafts.

The sample entries provided guide the data input process. For instance, on June 1, a starting balance of $1,895 is entered. Subsequent entries include checks issued for different purposes, donations, and deposits from concessions and tickets. Each transaction is entered with all relevant details, and the formulas auto-calculate totals and balances.

Finally, I refined the formatting—applying bold headers, cell borders, currency formats, and date formats—to improve readability and aesthetic appeal. Conditional formatting may be used to highlight negative balances or significant transactions. Once completed, I reviewed the entire worksheet for accuracy, ensuring all formulas work correctly and that the data is clearly presented.

This project demonstrates the importance of organized financial tracking using Excel's powerful features. It enhances problem-solving skills in data management, encourages creative layout design, and applies fundamental Excel functions like SUM, cell referencing, and formatting to produce a professional check register tailored for community use. Such a tool not only aids in financial accountability but also improves the efficiency of record-keeping for non-profit organizations like community park districts.

References

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• Frick, C. (2022). Financial Record Keeping for Nonprofits. Nonprofit Quarterly.
• Microsoft Support. (2023). Create a table in Excel. Microsoft Office Support. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel
• Silver, E. (2019). Fundamentals of Financial Management. McGraw-Hill Education.
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