Can somebody give me the formula for the balance column in a check register please? I am trying to setup like sample in iWork but am missing something.

Question

Can somebody give me the formula for the balance column in a check register please? I am setting the register up like the sample in iWork 09 but I seem to be missing something in the formula.

Answer 1

OM,
The way the checking account balance column works is to designate one cell for the starting balance, indicate income with positive figures and outgo with negative figures, summing the transactions and adding the sum to the starting figure.
The formula used, =$F$1+SUM(OFFSET(F3,3-ROW(),-1,ROW()-2)), is not too difficult to understand if you study the syntax for Offset. The author of this template didn't do us any favors because the expression could have been written more clearly, in my opinion. I'll explain how it's done in the template, and then how I would have written it. With the two approaches you may be able to see what it's all about.
$F$1 is the starting balance.
SUM requires a Range specification.
Offset provides the range specification. The syntax for Offset is as follows:
Base Cell. In this case it is F3, the cell the expression is written in.
Row Offset. In this case the author takes the current row number and subtracts the starting row from it. For the first balance the offset will be zero since the first balance is in row 3. For all the subsequent balances, the offset will be negative, meaning that the offset will point to a row above the current row.
Column Offset. In this case the column offset is 0. That means that it is pointing 1 column to the left, Column E.
Rows. This parameter sets the length of the range, in rows. Subtracting 2 from the current row number means that the range will be 1 for the first balance and will grow by 1 for each entry down the list.
Taking all this into account, the range for the Sum function will always be Column E from Row 2 to the current Row.
How I would have written the balance expression:
=F$1+SUM(OFFSET(E$3,0,0,ROW()-2))
I believe it's easier to follow.
The starting balance is still in F1, but only the row needs to be absolute - a fine point, I know.
In my expression the base cell for the Offset function is the first entry cell of the transactions, E3. The row needs to be absolute, there is no reason for the base cell to move about as it does in the author's version.
In my approach, both the row and column offsets are zero. We always start at E3.
In my approach, the number of rows in the range is the current row number minus 2, just as in the author's expression. That means we include all rows from Row 3 to the current row.
I'd be happy to answer any other questions about the specifics, but you need to be specific about what you don't get.
Jerry