Most Common Excel Shortcuts Every Consultant Should Know

Likely you used Excel at university, depending on what you studied. You may even know the basic Excel Formulas, e.g. Pivot Table, Vlookups, Hlookups, Sumifs, Index Matches, Vlookup Match. Even if you’ve never used these formulas, don’t be afraid of them. Practice makes perfect. And, if you have no reason to use these formulas, you probably won’t remember them. That is also fine because you just need to know what they do, and you can Google the rest. 

I recommend always using formulas. If you are doing a simple analysis, which is one time, then use formulas if it makes sense. If you are doing reporting, and using your Excel on a weekly basis, try and automate as much as you can with the help of macros. It might take you a day to figure everything out and to implement it, but any day afterwards, will save you time. Don’t be afraid of Excel; the more you use it the better and more efficient you'll get and the more you'll be able to automate. It'll be your friend once you learn it intimately.