How to Create a Finance Dashboard in Excel: A Step-by-Step Guide
If you read my beginner's guide to building dashboards in Excel, you'll definitely know what a dashboard is - but you may need to create a more specialized reporting tool.
In this article, we're going to talk about how to create a finance dashboard in Excel.
What is a Financial Dashboard?
A finance dashboard in Excel is a dynamic reporting tool designed to help users visualize and analyze key financial data efficiently.
By utilizing Excel's built-in features like pivot tables and charts, you can translate a complex data set into an easily digestible format, letting users to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and financial metrics.
With real-time data insights, these dashboards have become an essential tool for any professional who needs to manage budgets, forecast trends, and assess the financial health of an organization.
KPI Dashboard Template via TemplateLAB
Planning Your Finance Dashboard
Before you start to build anything, you need to do some planning.
First, you need to identify the purpose of your financial dashboard and think about which key performance indicators will enhance decision-making processes through data visualization.
Next, you need to determine the specific key performance indicators (KPIs) you want to track.
Finally, you need to consider the target audience for your dashboard and the analysis needs of your group. It's always best to plan the layout and design of your dashboard with your team as you research different types of reporting tools (e.g. financial reporting dashboard, sales dashboard, etc.).
Choosing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
One of the most important parts of the planning process is choosing appropriate key performance indicators (or KPIs).
Specifically, you need to identify KPIs that align with your business goals and objectives.
Choose KPIs that are measurable and relevant. Give preference to financial metrics such as revenue, expenses, and profit margins then use those key performance indicators to track progress and make data-driven decisions.
Setting Up Your Dashboard
When you're ready to set up your dashboard, there are a few things you'll need to do.
First, you'll want to identify and gather relevant data from various sources. The data should map to the KPIs we identified in the planning section above.
Next, you'll create a data model in Excel and connect to any external data sources.
You can download and adapt a dashboard template from the Internet or customize an existing file that you've used in the past. Either way, you'll likely spend some time customizing the dashboard layout and design to suite your needs.
Obtaining and Organizing Data
To analyze financial data effectively, start by collecting information from sources like financial statements, databases, and spreadsheets.
Next, clean and transform the data as needed to ensure accuracy and consistency. This step is important because it eliminates errors and minimizes problems that could affect your analysis.
You can use formulas and functions in Excel - or Power Query - to manipulate and transform the data as needed. Use the IFERROR function to enhance your formulas and ensure reliable outputs in financial calculations.
Finally, organize the data into a logical and structured format to make it easier to interpret.
Designing Your Dashboard
Use the following best practices to create a visually appealing and effective dashboard, while allowing users to create their own dashboards tailored to their specific needs:
Choose a color scheme and font that is consistent and easy to read
Use charts, graphs, and other visual elements to display data
Incorporate interactive controls like filters, slicers, and a timeline
Essentially, you want to keep the design of your dashboard simple and intuitive. Use clear and concise labels and headings, avoid clutter and unnecessary elements, and use white space effectively to create a clean and organized layout.
Creating an Interactive Dashboard
One of the things that make dashboards so useful are the various ways users can customize them.
Interactive elements like filters, drill-down capabilities, and timelines enable users to examine data in a way that's most meaningful to them. Using Excel formulas and functions whenever possible ensures that data updates dynamically and charts remain interactive.
If Excel isn't suitable for manipulating the sheer size of your data set, you can always transition to Power BI to create a more advanced and interactive dashboard.
Using Excel Dashboards Templates
You don't have to design your dashboard from scratch, there are plenty of Excel dashboard templates available that you can adapt for your needs.
Use any template you like as a starting point, then customize it to fit your specific requirements, while adding your own data and visualizations.
Visualizing Data
You can use charts, graphs, and other techniques to display data, it's important to choose the right type of visualization for your data and they message you're trying to convey.
Use color, conditional formatting, and graphical elements to focus attention on key data points and highlight important information. You can also use hover-over text, drill-down capabilities to add interactivity to your dashboard.
Utilizing modern dashboards to effectively display monthly and yearly performance through charts to enhance data clarity.
Creating a Financial Dashboard with Charts and Graphs
Creating a financial dashboard with charts and graphs is an effective way to visualize key performance indicators (KPIs) and track financial performance.
As mentioned previously, Excel dashboards templates can be a great starting point for creating a financial dashboard that includes various charts and graphs.
A financial dashboard example might feature a mix of bar charts, line graphs, and pie charts to represent different data points such as revenue, expenses, and profit margins.
To build a financial dashboard with charts and graphs, follow these steps:
Determine the KPIs: Identify the key performance indicators you want to track and display on your dashboard.
Choose Chart Types: Select the types of charts and graphs that best represent your data. For instance, use line charts for trends over time and pie charts for distribution.
Use Excel’s Tools: Utilize Excel’s built-in chart and graph tools to create your visualizations. These tools are user-friendly and offer a variety of customization options.
Customize Visuals: Tailor your charts and graphs to fit your dashboard’s design and layout. Adjust colors, labels, and other elements to enhance readability and visual appeal.
Validate Data: Employ data validation tools to ensure the accuracy and consistency of your data. This step is crucial for maintaining the integrity of your financial analysis.
Following these steps will ensure that you create a financial dashboard that effectively communicates your data through visually appealing charts and graphs.
Photo by Mikhail Nilov
Advanced Techniques
Advanced techniques can elevate your financial dashboard by making it more complex and interactive. These techniques include using lookup functions to fetch data and incorporating interactive controls that allow users to update and customize the dashboard's output.
Using Lookup Functions to Fetch Data
Lookup functions, such as the XLOOKUP function, are powerful tools for fetching data from other worksheets or tables. This function allows you to retrieve specific data based on a given value or criteria, making it easier to compile and analyze information from multiple sources.
To use the XLOOKUP function, follow these steps:
Identify Data: Determine the data you need to retrieve and the criteria for fetching it.
Locate Source: Identify the table or worksheet that contains the data.
Apply XLOOKUP: Use the XLOOKUP function to fetch the data. The syntax is straightforward: =XLOOKUP(lookup_value, lookup_array, return_array).
Customize Function: Adjust the function parameters to fit your specific needs, such as handling errors or specifying a default value.
Using lookup functions can streamline your data retrieval process, making your financial dashboard more efficient and dynamic.
Financial Reporting and Analysis
Your completed finance dashboard will be useful for performing analysis and reporting on financial metrics.
Leveraging an Excel dashboard to organize and visualize key performance indicators, lets you track progress toward goals, and make data-driven decisions. You can also use the dashboard to create forecasts and predictions, identify trends and highlight areas for improvement.
Creating an Interactive Experience
Creating an interactive experience is a key aspect of building a financial dashboard that engages users and provides meaningful insights. Interactive tools, such as dropdown menus and buttons that allow users to customize their view of the data, making the dashboard more user-friendly and versatile.
Building Interactive Dashboards
Building interactive dashboards requires a blend of technical skills and financial analysis knowledge. To create an interactive dashboard, follow these steps:
Plan for Interactivity: Determine the types of interactivity you want to include, such as filters, drill-down capabilities, or hover-over text.
Select Tools: Choose the tools and features that will enable you to create these interactive elements. Excel offers various built-in tools for this purpose.
Implement Features: Use Excel’s tools to add interactive elements to your dashboard. For example, use slicers for filtering data or buttons for navigating between different views.
Customize Dashboard: Tailor the interactive elements to fit your specific needs and enhance the user experience.
Test Functionality: Thoroughly test your dashboard to ensure all interactive features work as intended and provide accurate data.
By incorporating these advanced techniques and interactive elements, you can create a financial dashboard that not only provides a comprehensive view of your company’s financial performance but also allows users to interact with the data in a meaningful way.
Finalizing Your Dashboard
Your first attempt at creating a new dashboard is a necessary part of the process but it will likely need refining. Consider starting with a practice workbook to test the dashboard and it's functionality.
Test the dashboard with different data and scenarios. Review it and refine it as necessary to ensure it's easy to use and functions as intended.
Practice Workbook and Examples
As I said in the previous section, it's not a bad idea to use a practice workbook for testing and refining your dashboard.
Consider using examples and templates that you find online to help you create the first version of your dashboard.
Like anything else, the process gets easier as you gain experience!
