Debt vs. Revenue Graph

Using the Debt Over Time and Profit Over Time information from your previous spreadsheets you will create a line graph showing your company’s finances over the period of one year.

Procedure:

1) Copy the Month and Total Debt information from your Business Expenses Spreadsheet. You can do this at the same time by selecting both columns of data.

2) Paste the information into a new spreadsheet using Edit --> Paste Special… In the top portion of the Paste Special menu that pops up, choose Values instead of All, then click OK. This will paste the actual dollar amounts instead of the underlying formulas into the new sheet. Note: if you do not use Paste Special, the formulas will be pasted into the new cells and will calculate the wrong dollar amounts.

3) Copy the Total Profit information from you Business Revenue Spreadsheet and Paste Special into the new spreadsheet, right next to your Total Debt numbers.

4) You may have to re-format the cells in the new spreadsheet so that the numbers are dollar amounts (remember Format --> Cells…)

It should look like this:

5) Select all the cells, including headings and click Insert --> Chart…

6) Choose a line chart and fill in the appropriate chart title, and axis labels. Click finish when you’re done.

Notice that on this graph the Total Debt line is higher than the Total Profit line. Also, the Total Debt and Total Profit lines will never cross, even if we extended our graph for another year or longer. That means that your business will never make money.

If your graph looks like this one, then you need to make some adjustments in your revenue or expenses spreadsheet. Some examples are selling more products per month, or cutting down the number of employees. Ideally, your graph should look like this: