Here are a couple of formulas that will return the month & year for the
previous month from the date in A1:
=TEXT(IF(DAY(A1)<15,A1-20,A1-40),"mmmm yyyy")
=TEXT(EOMONTH(A1,-1),"mmmm yyyy")

You could use either of these like this:
="Reporting period is: " & TEXT(IF(DAY(A1)<15,A1-20,A1-40),"mmmm yyyy")

Three mmm's gives the 3-letter short form of the month name (Jan, Feb, etc.)

Hope this helps,

Hutch

"GoBonnieGo" wrote:

I saw a question with this title on here and it's exactly what I want... but
the answer is too technical for me and I'm wondering if someone can simplify
it. Here's my problem:

Each month, my people fill in a claim for what they did last month. On top,
I have a cell that lists today's date with the formula =TODAY(). In the body
of the report, I need to list that the report is for the previous month/year.

Can you help?

Thanks,
Bonnie