In India salary is usually paid on the last working day of a month – the payday. It is slightly different in countries where payrolls are processed every 2 weeks. For eg. in US most companies pay salary on every 2nd Friday / Thursday.
We can calculate the paydays / payroll periods in excel with simple date formulas:
Calculating last working day of a month – Payday for monthly payroll processing
Put in other words, last working day of a month is nothing but 1 working day before first day of next month. So last working day of Jan 2008 is one working day before first day of Feb 2008; 2/1/2008.
Here is how you can find out payday for all months in a given calendar year :
Assuming months are in column B, from B3 to B14, last working day of first month can be found by WORKDAY() formula: =WORKDAY(B4,-1). WORKDAY() excel formula calculates a future / past date by adding / subtracting any number of working days from it. Ex: =workday(today(),5) will return the date of 5th working day from today.
Calculating Payroll Dates for Biweekly Salaries – Typical US Payroll Calendar Dates
Calculating US Payroll dates is slightly complicated. First we have to find the first Monday of the year. This begins the first pay-period of 26 pay-periods in America. Then, each payday is exactly 12 days after the starting Monday.
Here is how we can find the first Monday of any given year: =if(weekday("1/1/2008")=2,"1/1/2008","1/1/2008"+9-weekday("1/1/2008")), we are using weekday() function to find the day of week on 1/1/2008 and then add required number of days to it to get the First Monday of the year.
Once the first Monday is calculated, then finding the payday dates for each pay period is simple. First payment date is 12 days away from the Monday and subsequent pay dates are 14 days apart.
More on date / time: 10 tips on using, formatting date / time in excel.
9 Responses to “Show forecast values in a different color with this simple trick [charting]”
While this works in a pinch, it clearly "lightens" the colors of the entire chart. Depending on where you use this, it will be blatantly obvious that you don't know what you are doing and present a poor looking graph.
Why not separate the data into different segments when charting and have as many colors as you have data points? You might have to create a new legend and/or repeat the chart in "invisible ink", but it would be cleaner and more consistent when new or updated data becomes available.
While I think I agree that doing it "properly" via a second series is preferable, I don't necessarily agree that making the entirety of the "future" (data, gridlines, and even the axis) semi-transparent is "poor looking". I think it could be seen as adding more emphasis to the "future-ness" of the forecast data.
In short, it's another tool for the toolbox, even if it's never needed.
Simply and clever 🙂
Quick & effective, cool. thanks.
I always use the dummy series.
Nice little trick, thanks very much!
Two sets of data better. Control is much better.
You can use the same chart next month to see what is actual and what is forecast.
To use this trick, I think grid lines has to be removed, that will make the graphic much more sharp.
to be honest, i dont understand why there is needed to do this way... in this case horizontal lines will be pale as well. then why a just can't change the color of the line partly???
Great tutorial. Thanks for the tutorial!