Hello, I am trying to set up a sales spread sheet. What I would like to do
is divide the material by the bid amounts to get a percentage. Can anyone
help with this please? Right now I'm using a calculator. I've tried the
division formula but I think I'm doing something wrong.

Thanks.

How is the sheet set up? You have a column with material numbers and a
column with bid numbers? (Need a bit more of a description as to what you
are trying to divide or get a percentage from.)

"Cindy" wrote:

Hello, I am trying to set up a sales spread sheet. What I would like to do
is divide the material by the bid amounts to get a percentage. Can anyone
help with this please? Right now I'm using a calculator. I've tried the
division formula but I think I'm doing something wrong.

Thanks.

Cindy wrote:
I am trying to set up a sales spread sheet. What I would like to do
is divide the material by the bid amounts to get a percentage. Can
anyone help with this please? Right now I'm using a calculator. I've
tried the division formula but I think I'm doing something wrong.

It would be good to show us what you are doing wrong. Perhaps
someone can explain your mistake.

If the cost of material is in A1 and the bid is in B1, the material as
a percentage of the bid is simply =A1/B1. You might also want to
format the cell so that the value appears as x% (Format Cells
Number Percentage, and also select the number of desired decimal
places).

But there are other percentages that you might be interested in.
For example, if you are interested in the markup percentage, that
would be =(B1-A1)/A1 or =(B1-A1)/B1, depending on your definition.

HTH.

" wrote:

Cindy wrote:
I am trying to set up a sales spread sheet. What I would like to do
is divide the material by the bid amounts to get a percentage. Can
anyone help with this please? Right now I'm using a calculator. I've
tried the division formula but I think I'm doing something wrong.

It would be good to show us what you are doing wrong. Perhaps
someone can explain your mistake.

If the cost of material is in A1 and the bid is in B1, the material as
a percentage of the bid is simply =A1/B1. You might also want to
format the cell so that the value appears as x% (Format Cells
Number Percentage, and also select the number of desired decimal
places).

But there are other percentages that you might be interested in.
For example, if you are interested in the markup percentage, that
would be =(B1-A1)/A1 or =(B1-A1)/B1, depending on your definition.

HTH.

Thank you very much for your suggestion. As I figured I was inputting the
wrong formula. I was using sum=, instead of just using what you wrote
=a1/b1.
I have several columns, job bid, then material used, labor paid and then
columns with each individual salesman.
I knew it was a lot simpler than using a calculator.
Again, thank you.

Hello again,

Well I got the #Value in the cell.
my bid amount is E1 and my material amount is in F1. So I wrote =F1/E1.

I also tried formatting the cells. That didn't work either.
Suggestions.


" wrote:

Cindy wrote:
I am trying to set up a sales spread sheet. What I would like to do
is divide the material by the bid amounts to get a percentage. Can
anyone help with this please? Right now I'm using a calculator. I've
tried the division formula but I think I'm doing something wrong.

It would be good to show us what you are doing wrong. Perhaps
someone can explain your mistake.

If the cost of material is in A1 and the bid is in B1, the material as
a percentage of the bid is simply =A1/B1. You might also want to
format the cell so that the value appears as x% (Format Cells
Number Percentage, and also select the number of desired decimal
places).

But there are other percentages that you might be interested in.
For example, if you are interested in the markup percentage, that
would be =(B1-A1)/A1 or =(B1-A1)/B1, depending on your definition.

HTH.

What are the 1st three numbers in column E and the 1st three in column F?

"Cindy" wrote:

Hello again,

Well I got the #Value in the cell.
my bid amount is E1 and my material amount is in F1. So I wrote =F1/E1.

I also tried formatting the cells. That didn't work either.
Suggestions.


" wrote:

Cindy wrote:
I am trying to set up a sales spread sheet. What I would like to do
is divide the material by the bid amounts to get a percentage. Can
anyone help with this please? Right now I'm using a calculator. I've
tried the division formula but I think I'm doing something wrong.

It would be good to show us what you are doing wrong. Perhaps
someone can explain your mistake.

If the cost of material is in A1 and the bid is in B1, the material as
a percentage of the bid is simply =A1/B1. You might also want to
format the cell so that the value appears as x% (Format Cells
Number Percentage, and also select the number of desired decimal
places).

But there are other percentages that you might be interested in.
For example, if you are interested in the markup percentage, that
would be =(B1-A1)/A1 or =(B1-A1)/B1, depending on your definition.

HTH.

Column E: 105
Column F: 400

"tim m" wrote:

What are the 1st three numbers in column E and the 1st three in column F?

"Cindy" wrote:

Hello again,

Well I got the #Value in the cell.
my bid amount is E1 and my material amount is in F1. So I wrote =F1/E1.

I also tried formatting the cells. That didn't work either.
Suggestions.


" wrote:

Cindy wrote:
I am trying to set up a sales spread sheet. What I would like to do
is divide the material by the bid amounts to get a percentage. Can
anyone help with this please? Right now I'm using a calculator. I've
tried the division formula but I think I'm doing something wrong.

It would be good to show us what you are doing wrong. Perhaps
someone can explain your mistake.

If the cost of material is in A1 and the bid is in B1, the material as
a percentage of the bid is simply =A1/B1. You might also want to
format the cell so that the value appears as x% (Format Cells
Number Percentage, and also select the number of desired decimal
places).

But there are other percentages that you might be interested in.
For example, if you are interested in the markup percentage, that
would be =(B1-A1)/A1 or =(B1-A1)/B1, depending on your definition.

HTH.

Cindy wrote:
Well I got the #Value in the cell. my bid amount is E1 and
my material amount is in F1. So I wrote =F1/E1.

That is right, fundamentally. I think your problem lies elsewhere.

I also tried formatting the cells. That didn't work either.
Suggestions.

I suspect that either or both E1 and F1 had a Text format
before you entered their values, and you enter their values
in the form =2. At least, that is the only way I can get a
#VALUE error when E1 and F1 do not themselves have errors.

If that is the case, simply changing the cell format to Number
is not sufficient. In addition, you have to re-enter the values
in those cells. At least, that is what I find experimentally.

If that does not remedy your problem, you might consider
attaching your xls file to a posting, if your news reader permits
that. Normally, I deprecate that procedure. But in this case,
dealing with typing errors, it might be the best way to go.

alright, that makes sense, seeing as is, i exported the info from quickbooks
to excel and then moved some of the columns around. i will keep working at
it. thanks.

" wrote:

Cindy wrote:
Well I got the #Value in the cell. my bid amount is E1 and
my material amount is in F1. So I wrote =F1/E1.

That is right, fundamentally. I think your problem lies elsewhere.

I also tried formatting the cells. That didn't work either.
Suggestions.

I suspect that either or both E1 and F1 had a Text format
before you entered their values, and you enter their values
in the form =2. At least, that is the only way I can get a
#VALUE error when E1 and F1 do not themselves have errors.

If that is the case, simply changing the cell format to Number
is not sufficient. In addition, you have to re-enter the values
in those cells. At least, that is what I find experimentally.

If that does not remedy your problem, you might consider
attaching your xls file to a posting, if your news reader permits
that. Normally, I deprecate that procedure. But in this case,
dealing with typing errors, it might be the best way to go.

I wrote:
I suspect that either or both E1 and F1 had a Text format
before you entered their values, and you enter their values
in the form =2. At least, that is the only way I can get a
#VALUE error when E1 and F1 do not themselves have errors

I should mention that I am using Office Excel 2003. It is possible
that earlier revisions of Excel is less tolerate of other text forms
of numbers. So it might be easier for you to cause the #VALUE
due to cell format mismatch and/or typing errors.

Bottom line: explicitly change the cell formats for E1 and F1
to General or Number, re-enter the values in E1 and F1, say
"abracadabra" :-), and see if your problem goes away.

i looked at my cell formats and they are set up as number formats. i believe
i did this after i exported to excel from quickbooks.????????

" wrote:

I wrote:
I suspect that either or both E1 and F1 had a Text format
before you entered their values, and you enter their values
in the form =2. At least, that is the only way I can get a
#VALUE error when E1 and F1 do not themselves have errors

I should mention that I am using Office Excel 2003. It is possible
that earlier revisions of Excel is less tolerate of other text forms
of numbers. So it might be easier for you to cause the #VALUE
due to cell format mismatch and/or typing errors.

Bottom line: explicitly change the cell formats for E1 and F1
to General or Number, re-enter the values in E1 and F1, say
"abracadabra" :-), and see if your problem goes away.

Cindy wrote:
i looked at my cell formats and they are set up as number formats.
i believe i did this after i exported to excel from quickbooks.????????

But did you say "abracadabra"? :-)

As I said, the problem might arise because of the prior state of the
cells before the data was entered. Simply changing to a Number
format after the import might not remedy the problem. And the fact
that cells have a Number format now might not be relevant to
understanding the root cause of your problem.

In any case, these types of user errors are very difficult to triage in
this kind of forum. If you can post the xls file, that might help.
(Albeit not my usual choice of practice.)

PS: I am not familiar with Quickbooks or the procedure for importing
Quickbooks data into Excel. You might search the QB FAQs for
some hint of a remedy for your problem, if you are still stuck.

Good luck!