Chandoo uses WordPress as the blogging engine at Chandoo.org.
The WordPress system includes a HTML enabled post engine, meaning that users can post any valid HTML Code and the WordPress engine will attempt to interpret and present what has been posted.
I need to note that the engine used by Chandoo.org posts and the Chandoo.org/Forums posts are slightly different. The engine used by the Chandoo.org/Forums uses a limited subset of the HTML Codes.
Chandoo does give us a small clue at the bottom of a new post window in the Chandoo.org/Forums that we can use codes in the comments:
How do I use these codes
When entering your post or response simply put the appropriate code in front of the block of text you want it to apply to and close the code at the end of the block
You type: This is in <Strong> Bold </Strong>.
WordPress Displays: This is in Bold.
So What codes Can I use
The following table highlights some of the more common HTML codes that are available for use in post comments.
Codes that work in both Chandoo.org and Chandoo.org Forums
Codes that will only work in Chandoo.org posts.
The following codes will not work in the Chandoo.org Forums
Animated PIctures
Animation can be added to a picture by including a link to an Animated GIF file.
This is only available in the Chandoo.org posts.
WARNING !
The old saying: “Less is More”, is very applicable here.
Just because you can use lots of Fancy HTML in your post, doesn’t mean you should.
Please limit your artistic expressions or face having your post edited or deleted.
Examples
The example HTML codes used above aren’t available to copy and paste above, as they are actually pictures of the codes.
Had I used the real codes, they wouldn,t display the codes, but would display the text after the codes have been applied.
However all the codes are available in the attached HTML Examples file.
Software and Picture Caches
Image Capture: I use the Snipping Tool that comes free with Windows Vista/Win 07. Goto Start, All Programs, Accessories to find the Snipping Tool.
Image Editing: Chandoo and I both use Paint.net. Paint.NET is a free download available at www.paint.net
I also use CorelDRAW and Corel Photo Paint www.corel.com
Animated Gif: Chandoo and I both use TechSmith’s Camtasia Studio for capturing sequences to animated GIF files.
Image Sharing: I use the free TinyPic web site for the storage of pictures shown on Chandoo.org
Where Can I Learn More About HTML?
This post isn’t meant as a HTML Primer/Reference.
There are many other HTML codes that area available to do lots of other formatting, like Marquees, Scroll Boxes and Multi Column layouts.
If you want to learn more about HTML codes have a look at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html_codes
There are lots of examples of HTML codes available on the web:
http://www.quackit.com/html/codes/
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_examples.asp
17 Responses to “Budget vs. Actual Profit Loss Report using Pivot Tables”
Good Work, Yogesh & Chandoo! Thanks.
Hi everybody,
first sorry I am late to say something about this topic;actually I was waiting last part
second I am not accountant I am an Engineer
third """"Very Important""" the idea is not about Loss but I am sure it is profit
Based on third it shows:
1- How to use EXCEL
2- How to use pivot TABLES
3- How to collect and arrange DATA
4- How to make reports
Many Thanks
Hi Yogesh and Chandoo,
Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
You guys are great!
thanks chandoo and yogesh, thanks for you lessons, are great!....i have a idea for a budget. I try to do it..... thanks for all
Thanks a lot for sharing the most powerful tool worldwide "knowledge"
Warm greetings from Peru
Hi -
This is a really great article because it's a simple and common thing you'd want to do with a pivot table but not at all obvious how to do it! So - muchas gracias to Chandoo and Yogesh!
One thing - I couldn't get past the group error in the sample file. I would click on ungroup but it didn't seem to have any effect. I'd appreciate it if anybody has any pointers here.
-Juanito
Hi Chandoo
I am also having the group error. Can't seem to ungroup? Appreciate if you explain further on the steps required in order to get to calculated items.
Many thanks and keep up the great work.
Cheers
Adam
Hi Chandoo,
I'm struggling resolving the problem depicted below:
I have a set of data, with (among others) a "Region" field (can be APJ, EMEA, or AMS), and a "Country" field.
Unfortunately, I need to group data by the following 4 Regions: APeJ, Japan, EMEA and AMS.
I first tried to make a pivot with Region and Country in the rows (or columns), and then group Country data as per the above.
Alas, as soon as I have a new Country that appear in my data set, my groupings are broken, and I have to redo the job of ungrouping, grouping etc.
I thought I could try to use calculated item, by adding first a new column to my dataset concatenating Region_Country, and create an "APeJ" calculated item that would sum all the "APJ_*" and substract the "APJ_Japan", but again, no clue, as I can't find a way to use any wild card in those formulas.
Given that I already found extremely helpful tips and tricks in your site that helped me manage that bunch of data, I'm pretty sure you'll have a bright idea on how I can solve that one!
Thanks in advance for your lights!
Hi Catherine...
In such cases, I advice using an additional column in the data itself. You can set-up a grouping table else where with country in first column, region in second column. And then in the data, you can add an extra column and use VLOOKUP to fetch the region based on the country.
Then feed this entire data (with extra column) to pivot table and use the extra column to group the data.
Hi Chandoo,
Thank you for your prompt answer.
I finally came to the same conclusion - after a rest 🙂 . I was probably too tired Friday evening (it was rather late), having spent hours in manipulating all my surveys data so as to pull rolling averages, make nice graphs and so on, and was trying to find a complex solution when there was a simple one.
Thanks again,
Catherine
Hey,
Great post!
I for example have different database structure with the following fields :
Date, Expense, Income, Sum (Income - Expense), Category (Sales, Cost of Goods and etc).
Creating a P&L report for the whole year works great. Including gross margin % and etc.
Though, creating P&L report by QTR/Month is becoming impossible since i get the following error : “This PivotTable report field is grouped. You cannot add calculated item to grouped filed.”
Is there a solution for this kind of problem?
Like Adam and Juanito, I also cannot ungroup.
Would appreciate it if you can add a few more lines and a screenshot or two on where to put the mouse cursor to ungroup.
Hi, I have figured out the ungrouping problem. One of the earlier steps was to group by month, if you pull the month back down to the column then right click and then select ungroup, then pull the month back up so you end up with just data source and budget/actual as the headings, then you can continue on.
To solve the ungroup problem, my method is:
Copy the "data" sheet to a whole new Excel workbook
and directly work on Part 6.
And since it is a fresh copy, Excel don't show me the "can't ungroup" problem. Hope this help.
Thank you Yogesh for this wonderful tutorial.
Kent, Malaysia
Just when i thought pivots were awesome i learn about inserting the calculated fields and that makes them more awesome. chandoo where have you been all my life.
Hello - your P&L pivot version has really impressed my boss and would like to use it. I have applied it for a actual vs budget vs forecast model I have created. One problem. In your variance above the operating profit percent % variance shows 33.8% but I want it to show (0.01) point or the true diff from prior budget.
I know I can add calculation to the side but boss would like to see it in pivot table.
Please help
Thanks
I have a further query which may solve my above dilemma. Is it possible to add a column that calculates percent increase. So in the example above a new column would be added to show variance %.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks