I was having a syntax error. Here is a formula that works for both questions:

=IF(B5=0,"",IF(B50,INT(ABS((B5/B3)*100)) & " % increase",
INT(ABS((B5/B3)*100)) & " % decrease") & " since last year.")


"Rich" wrote:

This is my pseudocode. Two question actually: 1) how can I concatenate the
following? --(B5/B3) * 100 is numeric -- add text to this result?

(B50,(B5/B3)*100 & " % increase", (B5/B3) * 100 & " % decrease)

2) how to eliminate trailing decimals and only have a whole number from
(B5/B3) * 100?

Thanks