Potential problems pg 207 208

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

1. Excel may get slower

You may find Excel is getting slower in its reaction if you have entered data in thousands of rows, say more than 15,000 rows. You can notice that it is getting slower that when you press 'Enter' key, the mouse cursor does not move to another cell immediately, but takes more than 1 second. You may also notice that the status bar shows that Excel is still doing some calculation for 2 or 3 seconds. Some people can tolerate delay of 3 or 4 seconds. The delay is caused by so many calculations Excel has to make since it contain so many data which affect the recalculations of formulas.

If you can't stand the little delay, you can avoid it by setting the calculation mode to 'manual'. Steps :

1. Click menu 'Tools/Option'.
2. A dialog box with title 'Options' will appear.
3. Click on 'Calculation' tab.
4. Select 'Manual'.
5. Click 'OK'.

From this point onwards, Excel will not do the calculation automatically. It means, all formulas will not get calculated or updated.

To force calculation of all formulas after you make the above setting , press key 'F9' on the keyboard.

Another way to force calculation when it is set as 'manual' is by using ‘Calculate Now’ button. Follow this step :

1. Click menu 'View/ Toolbars/ Customize'.
2. A dialog box with title 'Customize' will appear.
3. Activate the 'Commands' tab.
4. Under 'Categories' list, select 'Tools'.
5. Under 'Commands' list, find 'Calculate now' button.
6. Drag the 'Calculate now' button into the toolbar area and release at the location you want.
7. The button will stay there (you can remove it later by dragging back in to the dialog box).
8. Click OK.
9. From now on, you can click on that button to force formulas calculations.

This manual calculation affects all other Excel files, not just the file which you set the mode. If you share your computer with others, make sure you reset the calculation to ‘automatic’ calculation, unless you know that they know about ‘manual’ calculation.

2. Missing Formulas

You may have forgotten to copy a formula to cells that should contain the formula. For example, the cells in the DEBT-AGE column should contain formulas to calculate the age of the debt. To enable you to quickly review all the cells that should contain formulas, click on the menu Tools/Options/View/Show formula.

3. Accounts That Do Not Balance

The accounts may not balance. You must trace the cause. The most common reason for this is that the amount in the column RM-DEBIT is not the same as the absolute amount in the column RM-CREDIT. In cell AB5, use this formula: =H5+J5. Copy this formula down until the last row. This formula will produce 0 (zero) if a particular row is balance, otherwise it will produce a non-zero figure. Review this column AB quickly for any non-zero amounts.

208