you could try something along the lines of:

a1 = last year #
b1 = this year #

=if((b1-a1)0,b1-a1,min(a1,b1))

george

"Annie" wrote:

Probably being dense but how can I get excel to look at two sets of figures
one from last year and one from this year and then give me the difference if
there has been a gain or the lowest figure -ve if there has been a loss (last
years and this years may both be a loss in some cases - nb not financial
figures
--
Thank you
Annie