"GijsKijlstra" wrote:
I have 5 worksheets (2008 Expenses, 2009 Expenses, 2010 Expenses, 2011
Expenses and 2012 Expenses); each worksheet containing 12 tabs

FYI, those 5 __workbooks__. The "tabs" are the __worksheets__.


"GijsKijlstra" wrote:
(so e.g. a2 = total i.e. sum(e2:ai2), c2 WAGES (description in words),
e2 through ai2 the daily amounts)
[....]
In k2 I wanted to show the WAGES for January 2012 and entered
=VLOOKUP(H2,'[2012 Expenses.xlsx]Jan 12'!$A$2:$C$123,1,FALSE)
I did get a result, but the figure is wrong.

If you want wages (column C), that is column 3 of the range $A$2:$C$123.
So the formula should be:

=VLOOKUP(H2,'[2012 Expenses.xlsx]Jan 12'!$A$2:$C$123,3,FALSE)

Note the 3 instead 1 in the 3rd parameter.