I would have guessed something like asterisk protection
to fill empty space to the left, rather than repeating entire number.
Format, Cells, Number (tab), Custom, //examples//

$***55,000.00 _($**#,##0.00_);[Red]_($**(#,##0.00);_($* "-"??_);_(@_)
***$55,000.00 _(**$#,##0.00_);[Red]_(**$(#,##0.00);_(**$0.00_);_(@_)

The first asterisk indicates that the next character
is a fill character. You can have a leading or trailing
fill see my
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel...m#numberformat
---
HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

"Dave Peterson" wrote ...
Format|Cells|Alignment tab|Horizontal alignment dropdown|choose fill.