I would be tempted to plot two lines on the chart. Line one would show the
actuals, and line two would show the actuals minus the unusual amounts. This
addresses your first concern, which is to show that some amounts are
exaggerated. Your second concern may be addressed through the use of either
a log scale axis, which would confound most non-scientists, or a broken
value axis, which is easier to read but harder to set up. Here's a tutorial:

http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/BrokenYAxis.html

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______


"april" wrote in message
...
i have 5 yrs of revenue data. however, 2 of those yrs had significant
spikes
because of unusual circumstances. i would like to hihlight this fact -
i.e
say that the total revenue for a spike year was $2M, but that $900K was
due
to extraordinary circumstances. also i am showing the revenue data and
the
fundraising expenses for that same period. because of the spike in
revenue,
the fundraising increments aren't dramatic because the scale has been set
by
that high revenue number. any suggestions?

thanks
--
aprilshowers