Ever struggled to extract crucial financial data from PDF files into Excel? 

As accountants and finance professionals, this can be a regular occurrence.  

To help you, this episode explores Microsoft Excel’s Power Query feature. You’ll uncover how to seamlessly import data from system-generated PDFs like invoices and statements. 

From tackling tricky formatting issues to cleaning up messy rows, learn through real-world examples using an Australian Tax Office (ATO) PDF as a case study.  

Additionally, you’ll gain smart strategies for handling regularly updated PDFs to automate your workflows.  

For fast access, use these timestamps:

• 0:17 - Introduction to Importing Data from PDFs using Excel's Power Query feature.
• 0:37 - Types of PDFs and Their Reliability
• 1:05 - Use Cases for Importing PDF data
• 3:17 - Accessing Power Query and Importing a PDF
• 4:15 - Tables vs. Pages in PDFs
• 5:40 - The Complexity of Importing PDF Data
• 6:25 - Removing Repeated Headers
• 7:05 - Addressing Errors and Dealing with Extra Rows
• 9:20 - Creating a Filter Column
• 9:45 - Reversing Rows Again
• 10:05 - PDF File Names
• 11:20 - Reusing Power Queries
• 11:42 - Conclusion

If you’re ready to save time and streamline your data handling processes, this episode is a must-listen. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:  

• With Interest
• INTHEBLACK 
• INTHEBLACK Out Loud
• Excel Tips 

Search for them in your podcast platform.  

You can email the podcast team at [email protected]  

Excel doesn’t have a built-in timeline chart but we’ll show you how to create one. In this episode you’ll learn how using a scatter chart can help you build a timeline chart.

For easy reference, here are the episode timestamps:

• 0:17 - About timeline charts in Excel
• 1:33 - Hacking the scatter chart to make a timeline chart
• 2:43 - Formatting dates using the range
• 3:32 - Universal formatting shortcut
• 4:27 - Working with the data series and points
• 5:40 - The structure of the data to build the chart
• 7:21 - Linking the title to the cell
• 8:07 - The date format used by Excel and keyboard shortcuts
• 9:29 - Timeline charts overview and recap

Whether you’re tracking historical events or planning future milestones, a timeline chart is a useful tool to create in Excel.

Tune in now to learn this simple technique and start creating your own timeline charts.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

• INTHEBLACK
• INTHEBLACK Out Loud
• With Interest
• Excel Tips

Search for them in your podcast platform.

Calendars are your go-to tool for planning. In this Excel Tips episode, you'll learn the steps to create a single-month calendar from scratch.

Discover how to combine advanced functions to build a two-dimensional calendar structure, and how to format your dates and highlight weekends and holidays.

You'll also gain knowledge of how to customise the calendar to fit your specific needs.

For quick reference, here are the timestamps:

• 0:17 – Introduction to building a calendar
• 2:12 – Functions used in this tutorial
• 4:29 – How the different functions work
• 8:11 – Using formulas to create headings
• 10:30 – Changing the calendar to start the week on Monday
• 11:53 – Building a custom function with LAMBDA
• 13:28 – Applying conditional formatting for weekends
• 14:59 – Shortcuts covered in the tutorial
• 15:58 – Recap and summary of what we've learned

Tune in now to easily create personalised calendars that suit your planning needs.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

• INTHEBLACK
• INTHEBLACK Out Loud
• With Interest
• Excel Tips

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at [email protected]

Reports are crucial to your work, aren't they? Power Query is a valuable tool for importing many types of data into Excel to help you create these reports.

However, it does have limitations.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to address one of Power Query’s key shortcomings: user interactions.

By using staging queries, reference techniques and range names, users can dynamically filter data within Power Query based on user-selected criteria.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

1. 0:17 – About the variable Power Query function
2. 3:37 – Implementing the query function
3. 5:46 – Using a range name for a table
4. 7:07 – Using a query to read the variable input
5. 9:43 – Refreshing the power query
6. 10:11 – Recap and use cases

Listen now to learn how to add a user interaction into Power Query.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

• INTHEBLACK
• INTHEBLACK Out Loud
• With Interest
• Excel Tips

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at [email protected]

Looking to improve your report-building skills? If so, this is the episode for you.

Uncover tips on how to leverage multiple Excel features to create a system that effortlessly hides blank and zero rows in your reports.

Also in this episode, you’ll discover the subtotal function’s superpower and learn how you can use it to help identify if a filter needs reapplying.

You can use these handy skills to boost your report-writing efficiency. 

For fast access, use these timestamps:

1. 0:20 – Using formatted tables instead of macros for hiding rows
2. 2:38 – About the example and tutorial file
3. 5:10 – Applying the filter and slicer
4. 6:35 – The subtotal function superpower

Listen now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

• INTHEBLACK
• INTHEBLACK Out Loud
• With Interest
• Excel Tips

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at [email protected]

Looking for ways to gain deeper insights from your sales and costs data in Excel?

This episode explores the power of heat maps, a data visualisation technique often used for climate data, but equally effective for business analysis.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

1. 0:15 – Using heat maps for sales and cost information.
2. 1:59 – Colour scales options and settings.
3. 5:15 – Conditional formatting and top and bottom rules.
4. 7:27 – Using the large and small function.

Listen now for insights into this multi-functional Excel tool.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

• INTHEBLACK
• INTHEBLACK Out Loud
• With Interest
• Excel Tips

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at [email protected]

There's a misconception that Excel macros are outdated or unnecessary. In this episode we set the record straight and explore their continued value.

Delve into three practical macros that can streamline various tasks in your Excel workflow.

More importantly, you’ll come away with the knowledge to decide when creating a macro makes sense for optimising your efficiency.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

• 0:20 - Why macros aren't dead.
• 1:39 - Macro warning!
• 2:18 - The problems macros solve.
• 3:07 - Macro 1 - editing column headings in pivot tables.
• 3:57 - Macro 2 - macro to format spill ranges.
• 5:07 - Macro 3 - building an index sheet in excel.
• 6:19 - Macro message boxes and examples overview.
• 7:35 - When to use macros.

Listen now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

• INTHEBLACK
• INTHEBLACK Out Loud
• With Interest
• Excel Tips

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at [email protected]

Tune in to discover how mastering custom functions can help simplify two complex issues with Excel formulas.

Improve your problem-solving skills by harnessing the power of custom functions. For fast access, use these timestamps:

• 0:20 - Custom functions, episode overview.
• 1:39 - Summing spill ranges.
• 2:58 - Using prefixes in functions.
• 4:07 - Setting up a switch function.
• 5:31 - Financial year custom functions.
• 6:27 - Setting up a financial year function.
• 8:09 - Using custom functions across multiple files.
• 8:53 - Custom functions overview.

Listen now.

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

You can catch up on a previous episode that explained custom functions. There is also an accompanying article to this podcast episode.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

• INTHEBLACK
• INTHEBLACK Out Loud
• With Interest
• Excel Tips

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at [email protected]

Do you want to improve your dashboard-creating skills in Excel? Look no further.

This episode has all the expert tips you need to know using dynamic arrays to create a dashboard.

For fast access, use these timestamps:

1. About the report template and using dynamic arrays - 0:17
2. About dynamic arrays - 0:55
3. Dynamic charts and dashboards using dynamic arrays - 1:33
4. Variance charts and budget comparisons - 2:34
5. Building the tables and chats - 4:26
6. Additional resources 10:49

Tune in now. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

You can listen to the first two in this dynamic arrays three-part series at the Excel Tips home page.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:

• INTHEBLACK
• INTHEBLACK Out Loud
• With Interest
• Excel Tips

Search for them in your podcast platform.

You can email the podcast team at [email protected]

Don’t miss this episode, the second in a three-part series that explains how you can use the power of dynamic arrays in report building. Learn how to review a report that’s using dynamic arrays to create an automated month and year-to-date report. 

For fast access, use these timestamps:

1. About the report template and using dynamic arrays 00:18
2. Range names for formatted tables 2:35
3. Budget layout and structure setup 3:34
4. The offset function 4:15
5. The filter function 5:11
6. SUM IF S function 6:54
7. Using the wildcard character 7:49
8. Variance calculations 8:41
9. The ABS function 9:39
10. Additional resources 10:49

Tune in now to learn more about this handy Excel subscription version functionality. 

Host: Neale Blackwood CPA has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Excel educator. He is the author of more than 200 INTHEBLACK articles as well as a book, Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants.

CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

• INTHEBLACK
• INTHEBLACK Out Loud
• With Interest
• Excel Tips

Search for them in your podcast platform. 

You can email the podcast team at [email protected]