$100 Million Spreadsheet Error

Tibco Software recently agreed to be acquired for $4.2 billion by Vista Equity Partners. Usually, an announcement such as this ends the negotiations regarding price. However, in this case, an error in a spreadsheet overvalued Tibco by $100 million. As a result, Vista will only have to pay $4.1 billion for Tibco. The reduction in value will lower the payment to Tibco shareholders by $.61 per share.

Macros For Excel

You may have noticed when you open the Excel Master files you have downloaded, Excel will likely open the files in "Protected Mode". The reason this happens is that Excel allows you to create macros. Macros are a program written to eliminate the need to redo common tasks. For example, you can create a macro to calculate the future value of a growing annuity, a function that is not readily available in Excel. However, in using a spreadsheet created by someone else, there is the possibility that they have written a malicious macro in to the Excel workbook. As this article explains, using the Protected Mode allows you to see everything that is coded into the workbook without allowing the workbook access to your computer, thus preventing a malicious code from being loaded onto your computer.  

Creating Charts In Excel

While you have done a great job with your data analysis, a chart or graph is often the best way to convey the information. And while we think Excel Master does a good job introducing you to Excel's charting capabilities, for more on creating charts and graphs in Excel, check out this article from PCWorld.