I totally agree!!! This problem has been extant for years and Microsoft
cannot be ignorant of it. I, too , have tried every which way to display
negatives numbers in red and in brackets. It's a snap in Quattro Pro and in
Lotus. For crying out loud, MS, FIX IT ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!

"Frustrated of Great Yarmouth" wrote:

I have tried the regional custom settings but the "apply" section is shaded
and inoperative. However the settings show negative numbers in brackets but
when I go to Excel all it does is show minus signs !! It is so terribly
frustrating.