18.2 Tips on Rounding numbers using Excel Formulas

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We can use a variety of formulas to round numbers in Excel depending on the situation. We have ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN, MROUND, INT, TRUNC, CEILING, FLOOR, FIXED, EVEN, ODD and few more. To know how to use all these formulas and how to round numbers based on any criteria, just read on.

Rounding Formulas in Excel

Before learning the tips, first lets understand various rounding formulas & what they do. Look at this:

Formula What it does?
ROUND Rounds a number to specified decimal points (or multiples of 10)
ROUNDUP Rounds up a number
ROUNDDOWN Rounds down a number
MROUND Rounds to nearest multiple of specified number
INT Rounds down to nearest integer
TRUNC Gives you only integer portion
CEILING Rounds up a number to nearest multiple of 1,10,100…
FLOOR Rounds down a number to nearest multiple of 1,10,100…
EVEN Gives next even number
ODD Gives next odd number
FIXED Rounds and converts to text format (with commas if you want)

18 Rounding Formula Tips

1. Round to 2 decimal points

Example: 1.2649 to 1.26

=ROUND(A1,2) Rounds value in A1 by 2 decimal points

2. Round up to 2 decimal points

Example: 1.2649 to 1.27

=ROUNDUP(A1,2) Roundsup value in A1 by 2 decimal points (ie away from zero)

3. Round to nearest integer

Example: 1.2649 to 1

=ROUND(A1,0) By using 0, we can round the value to nearest integer

4. Round to nearest multiple of 10

Example: 544.234 to 540

=ROUND(A1,-1) By using negative numbers, we can round the value to nearest multiple of 10, 100…

5. Round up to nearest multiple of 10

Example: 544.234 to 550

=ROUNDUP(A1,-1)

6. Round to nearest thousand

Example: 312789123 to 312789000

=ROUND(A1,-3)

7. Round to nearest million with one decimal point

Example: 312789123 to 312.8

=ROUND(A1/1000000,1) First we divide the number by million (1,000,000) and then round this to 1 decimal point.

8. Round to nearest multiple of 2

Example: 43 to 44

=MROUND(A1,2) Just like round formula, but for any multiple. So MROUND(A1,2) takes value in A1 and rounds it to nearest multiple of 2

9. Round to nearest multiple of 5

Example: 93 to 95

=MROUND(A1,5)

10. Round down to hundred

Example: 301 to 300

=FLOOR(A1,100) To round down, we can use FLOOR formula.

11. Get only the integer portion of a number

Example: -23.34 to -23

=TRUNC(A1,0) To extract only the integer portion of number, use TRUNC formula. Note: INT formula gives same result for positive numbers.

12. Round a number to 2 decimals and convert to text

Example: 312789.26921 to 312,789.27

=FIXED(A1,2,FALSE) In one shot, round and convert the number to text. Useful when you want text output.

13. Get next even number

Example: 42.1 to 44

=EVEN(A1) Gets you next EVEN number (away from zero)

14. Get next odd number

Example: 44.93 to 45

=ODD(A1)

15. Round to nearest quarter ($0.25)

Example: 19.14 to 19.25

=MROUND(A1,0.25) MROUND can be used with fractions too.

16. Round to next 9 (ie 19,29,39 etc.)

Example: 23 to 29

=ROUNDUP(A1,-1)-1 To do this, we just roundup the number to next 10 and then subtract 1 from it.

17. Round up to next 1000

Example: 124567 to 125000

=CEILING(A1,1000) Just like FLOOR, but takes you to next value.

18. Get only decimal portion of a number

Example: 23.345 to 0.345

=A1-TRUNC(A1) To get only decimal portion, subtract TRUNC value from original

Download Rounding formula example workbook

Click here to download example workbook & understand these formulas better.

What about .2 tips?

Well, those are for you to fill down. Go ahead and write formulas for both these situations & you have the .2 tips!

18.1 Waiter friendly pricing

Lets say you run a hotel where customers usually tip 15% of bill amount. Now, to make it easy, you want to price your items such that when 15% is added, the total amount becomes a round number like $1.00, $2.00 etc.

For example: If a dish’s current price is $2.50, then 15% tip on it would be $0.37. This makes the total $2.87.
If you modify the price to $2.60, with tip the total would be $3.00.

Assuming current price of a dish is in A1, what formula will give you new price?

18.2 Rounding to nearest Monday

Lets say you have some dates in a list and you want them to round to nearest Monday. Assuming you have a date in A1, what formula gives nearest Monday?

Go ahead and figure them out. Post your answers using comments.

Click here to comment.

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62 Responses to “Introduction to Financial Modeling using Excel [Part 1 of 6]”

  1. John N says:

    Oooh! Chandoo - are you looking to outperform the Altman Z-Score?

    I'm all ears 😉

  2. apex says:

    Many thanks, Paramdeep. Looking forward to the remaining parts of the series

  3. Clarity says:

    Thank you Paramdeep. I look forward to following the series.

    Those interested in Financial Modelling may also find this site interesting:
    http://www.fimodo.com/

  4. Rohit1409 says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    Really looking forward for this awesome financial modeling journey 🙂

    All the very best..

    Regards

    Rohit1409

  5. Guru says:

    Hi Chandoo,
    it seems the future is not away when we will have a new software/spreadsheet as competitor to Microsoft Office/Linux etc.......Hats Off to you..

    KEEP SMILING
    GURU

  6. Paramdeep says:

    @apex, clarity: Thanks...
    @all: I do hope that you have started creating the model for the simple case given.. Lets see, what according to you all is the best way forward. So your views on the best practices for the template for valuation?

  7. Brian Clendinen says:

    The planning process varies depending on the project and type of data I am looking at.

    If I am doing a cost impact study based on actuals, verses a cost impact study to estimate future cost, verses reviewing historical data then creating a model, verse having to review historical data, apply it to a draft model, update the model based on the draft outputs and the presentation then sometimes repeat the process a few times.

    Revisions are an absolutely necessary part of corporate financial modeling especially for the presentation sections. A good presentation will be revised multiple time. There are just to many elements which cannot be planned for, especially with ad hoc reports/models.

    Revisions are leading cause of errors, and time spent tracking down errors. The more complex the model the more important revision control is. I would be interested in a section on revision control and good methodologies to determine the effect of changes on models. That is without having to due detail review of the whole model over again.

  8. Drew says:

    Hi Paramdeep,

    I can't wait for the continuation of this series. You have done a great job in making technical terms appear simple and easy to understand. This article is also very useful in our line of business, in fact i will be featuring this article in our site. Of course the credits will go out to you.

    Many thanks and keep it up!

    Drew

  9. @Drew: Thanks! Hope that you found the tutorials useful. Feel free to get back with any queries.

  10. [...] you are building financial models or any other type of excel based decision models, chances are, there will be multiple scenarios in [...]

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  13. nadeem says:

    chando bhai i m tired for looking financial modeling detail but i cant find it anyway. so plz kindly send me full detail of financial modeling from beginning levelo to final. where i learn complete modeling procedure n order to become professional

  14. @Nadeem Bhai,
    The 6 links to the tutorial at the top of this post, build a small integrated financial model step by step. We are also running a complete 8 weeks course on financial modeling (similar to excel school). But that is almost 50% complete right now. If you want to join, you can join the next batch (probably starting in Jan/ Feb)
    Feel free to get back, if you have any queries regarding the model/ steps in creating the same

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  16. Lulama says:

    I want to learn how to build a financial model

  17. Dear Lulama,
    You can use this tutorial to learn to build a financial model. We also run a course on financial modeling and project finance modeling. The details can be obtained from:
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    You can consider joining that as well.
    I would strongly encourage you to join the newsletter to get the updates about financial modeling and the next batch starting for the course.

  18. Vivek Dharamshi says:

    I want to learn thorough excel and financial modelling thing !!! I am a chartered accountant..CAn you please suggest a detail syllabus that should be learn by me. Also suggest any classes that would cover everything in excel and financial modelling related things.. I stay in mumbai, so please suggest a class in mumbai or any books..byyee.. thanks ..

  19. Hi Vivek,
    We do conduct the financial modeling course online as well as in Mumbai. We start with the basics of excel and build a completely integrated financial model in the class. For details you can look at:
    http://chandoo.org/wp/financial-modeling/
    or
    http://www.edupristine.com/courses/financial-modeling/prisitne-fm-offering

  20. Immanuel Nashivela says:

    Please describe to me various type of financial modela and demonstrate how a model can be build.

    Regards,

  21. Dear Immanuel,
    This series of articles does exactly that. If you go step by step through the articles and create the excel sheets on your own, you will understand how to create an integrated financial model.
    Alternatively, if you are looking for video sessions, you can consider joining our course:
    http://chandoo.org/wp/financial-modeling/
    It is expected to reopen somewhere in mid july.

  22. Benjamin Burt says:

    Thanks Paramdeep this is great!

  23. [...] Few months ago, we learned how to create a project valuation model in Excel as part of our series on Financial Modeling in Excel. [...]

  24. Marius Bouwer says:

    Paramdeep Hi! A bit ignorant here, but let's ask anyway. Can I access "recorded" video sessions apart from following the step by step articles?

    Thanks!

  25. @Marius: Yes, we do have a training program with recorded video sessions. If you are interested, you can enroll for the same. The details can be obtained from: http://chandoo.org/wp/financial-modeling/

  26. Rachit Sharma says:

    i want to know about the scope of financial modeling.i also want to know after doing financial modeling course what are the job prospect, like where i can found job so plz send me full detail of financial modeling from beginning levelo to final.

  27. Charsiew says:

    I am interested to join your Financial modelling class cos am involved in a new business. But I have a Macbook Air with Excel for Mac installed. Would that work with your program?

    • Dear Charsiew,
      The complete training program is built using Excel 2007 with MS windows. Though there is nothing specific to Microsoft in the training. I think a few people have joined the program and are using MAC. If you write an email to me on paramdeep @ gmail.com, I can send you the email ids of those participants and you can get to know their feedback and difficulties in using the program.

  28. Karan Chhabra says:

    This is great, when does the next batch start?

  29. Seun says:

    Paramdeep, thanks. I'm venturing into financial modelling for the first time and from the little I've read from your website already, I'm sure I'll find your resources very useful; thanks once again.

  30. dikshita says:

    hie ppl...I jst wantd a small favour cn smone help me out in calculating EBITDA, along with its working,  from wipros annual report 2011-2012, link -   http://www.wipro.com/investors/annual-reports.aspx
    ...PLZ plz... i am having a submission tommorow.

  31. Arthur D says:

    Nice article.

    In designing Excel Financial Models I design the user interface as friendly as possible and structuring the input variables in the workflow of the client's operations so that they can flow through the impact of the input variables in Excel using buttons and macros and giving the model transparency.

    Cheers
    Arthur

  32. […] 4) http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/07/21/financial-modeling-introduction/  Chandoo has a great 6 step guide which goes through financial modeling from start to finish. Includes loads of pdfs to download including cheat sheets and case studies. Definitely a good place to start learning how to get to grips with financial modeling and Chandoo is well known for its Excel tutorials so if anything doesn’t make sense about the terms used to talk about formatting etc. then the answer can surely be found elsewhere on the website (and often already has hyperlinks added to skip straight to those sections as they are talked about within the financial modeling article!) […]

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  34. […] Introduction to Excel Financial Modeling […]

  35. Financial Modeling Team says:

    Another step to build any financial model is to do a financial analysis beforehand. This normally helps to design and come up with good projections.

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