Quick Course on Creating a Waterfall Chart in Excel

All companies need to track their progress to determine the potential reasons behind the changes in the budget. For some, especially for small companies and startups, presenting informative charts on their budget or other factors is one of the methods for keeping investors in the loop. One of the most effective strategies is to use the waterfall chart in Excel, which lets you present data in an informative and easy-to-understand way. 

This course is a beginner-friendly course for people that have never tried to create waterfall charts in Excel. All you need is to have the Microsoft Excel program to open a spreadsheet. If you do not have this application, you can try using Google Sheets. 

What is the Waterfall Chart in Excel? 

The waterfall chart is one of the possible data visualization forms that let you sequentially present positive or negative values. This chart is widely used for business presentations to show the way the primary value is influenced by other (both positive and negative) values. For instance, you can create a waterfall chart in Excel for presenting the gradual changes in profit or revenues.  

Your analytic presentations on business performance, inventory, or other topics can be improved greatly with the waterfall chart in Excel. Very commonly, these charts are presented as a part of monthly or yearly reports. Therefore, if you want to make your presentation more impressive and professional, I highly recommend to create waterfall charts in Excel. 

What will you find in this course? 

In this course on waterfall charts in Excel, I will start with the basic tips for formatting and briefly reviewing the project that will be built during these lessons. Then, I begin working on a blank sheet. I suggest you follow the procedure step-by-step and repeat it on your sheet of Excel for better results. However, you can observe the process, and try to replicate it later as well. 

The project that I am going to be working on is the waterfall chart in Excel to visualize the revenues, gross margin, operating expenses, cash balance, and the cash balance of the company. 

I will also introduce some of the useful formulas that you can enter in the waterfall chart in Excel. These formulas are necessary if you want to make calculations and present them in your sheet. 

Most frequently, the Excel waterfall chart is useful for owners of small companies and startups that need to have their investors aware of the current situation. For instance, such charts can reflect the growth or issues that the company might be having. 

Therefore, with this data visualization method, it becomes easy to track the progress of your company. For investors, each Excel waterfall chart is a summary of the overall company progress. Join me in this course, learn to create a waterfall chart in Excel and make your business presentation interesting, easy-to-follow and highly informative for your investors!