Maybe....

Windows start button|settings|control panel|regional settings
(Or regional and language settings in winXP)

Regional Options tab, customize button in winxp

Currency Tab
change the negative currency format to show ()'s.

R. Earl R. wrote:

When selecting Accounting as the number format, negative figures used to
appear in brackets. That is now no longer the case. Negative figures using
the Accounting format now appear with a minus in front. I have never used
any version of Excel other than Office XP.

--

Dave Peterson