Search across multiple sheets and subtotal.
 

I was hoping for a non-programming solution but can't find any
current excel NG more appropriate than this one.

I have a workbook with sheets for each month. I want to find all
rows where column k contains a particular word and total all the
values from colum L on those rows

ie they are expenses claim for each month, I want to add all
particular claims for, say, fuel.

I can combine the sheets and do a find all which would tell me
how many rows but is there a way to do that bit more without a
macro?

Search across multiple sheets and subtotal.
 

The SUMIF worksheet function may help. You need one for each sheet and then
you can sum them to get the great total. Example where the numbers in
L1:L20 that have "xx" in column K are summed:

=SUMIF(K1:K20,"xx",L1:L20)

--
Jim Rech
Excel MVP