Using Excel for inventory, sales, etc.

[Jane42]

We met with an accountant on Saturday and it went pretty well.

We did find out, though, that although we have all the information he needs, it is not quite in the form that he wants it...:rolleyes2 LOL

Even though we both work with excel in our regular jobs, neither of us has set up the spreadsheets we work on. We are unfamiliar with actually creating the formulas (except for very basic ones), etc.

Is there anyone here that uses Excel and can give us some advice on how to set it up to work with our candle inventory, invoices, etc.? We think that if we could actually see how someone has used it to track everything, we may be able to figure out how to create our own spreadsheets.

As always, I appreciate the help!!

Jane

[MissMary]

I use Excel for everything, I have costs broken down from start to per use, pricing from wax across (10 categories) to final price w/ wholesale, etc. if I ever use it.

Almost every single spreadsheet for me is either - or + formulas.

I start with say the products on the left.

4 oz. candle in the left column

Above, going across, I list wax, container, wick, scent, label, warning, packaging, adds, color, and misc. I have a sum at the end for cost, the next column over is wholesale cost (sum*2) and retail is after that (sum*3). The very last column is just for my own fun of retail minus cost to see profit of each item.

As for inventory, I keep weblinks to each place, and use the formula's across again to count cost per use.

[BACKWOODS]

Call me a dork, but I love Excel! If you have any questions on formulas I can help. It is definitely a great tool to help keep all your information organized!

[gloworm]

Call me a dork, but I love Excel! If you have any questions on formulas I can help. It is definitely a great tool to help keep all your information organized!

Hey Dork, long time no see!!

MAMA

[Angel91805]

I am taking an advanced spreadsheets (Excel 2007) class right now at school. If you need any help w/ formulas, let me know.

Donna

[Jane42]

Thanks so much!! We will definitely have questions!! LOL

We had been considering Quickbooks..and have not ruled it out...but because we are familiar with excel, we thought we should try to give it a shot before changing.

[Stella1952]

I have used Quickbooks in the past professionally and it's a pain, especially when exporting data. One pretty much has to have Quickbooks to properly read the data unless they have changed a LOT in the past 5 years...

Excel has been a godsend to me. If you have MS Office you can create a database in Access that draws info from different spreadsheets and rally get the operation going well! Because Excel allows the use of multiple spreadsheets in a workbopok, it's pretty easy to , for example, enter information from invoices on one sheet, copy/paste FOs to another, keep track of the accounting categories for other purchases (like disposable supplies, and equipment, etc), and have the sheet figure out how much you are REALLY paying per unit (with shipping included) for materials or per candle.

Play with it - most functions used are very simple and once you get used to how to tell Excel what you want, you'll be delighted with what it can do for you!

[Jane42]

OK, everyone, how much do you charge to set me up!!!! LOL

Candles and Supplies is having a class on excel and how it relates to a candle business. They also email you the sheets so you have something to start with. Unfortunately, it is not a day drive...we would have to pay for a motel, the class, etc.

Oh, bother...I just want to MAKE CANDLES! :rolleyes2

I keep telling my son, who is in college majoring in Business, to HURRY UP....we need HELP! LOL

Thank you all so much for your help!