83|EXCEL – A Schedule of Errors

Challenges
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1

BYU Student Author: @klayton
Reviewers: @Parker_Sherwood, @Brett_Lowe, @Andrew
Estimated Time to Solve: 25 Minutes

We provide the solution to this challenge using:

  • Excel

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Overview
Tax season is in full swing, and you’ve never been busier. To make matters worse, the new guy in the office has made everything ten times harder. Not only do you have your own files stacked on your desk, but you need to make sure all his work is satisfactory. Not a single one of his tasks has reached you without the need for some major corrections. This newest one is no different. It is a simple depreciation schedule comparing Book and Tax depreciation. Though frustrated, you remember being in his shoes. You summon an extra measure of patience and start on the corrections.

Instructions
There are a total of 14 errors in the spreadsheet from your coworker. You must correct them all to find the correct difference between book and tax depreciation. Here are some hints to get you started:

  1. If a formula is referencing a depreciation table, that reference is correct. It is possible that a different part of the formula is incorrect, however.
  2. None of the columns I through L should be hardcoded.
  3. While Salvage Value is considered for Book purposes, it is not for Tax purposes.
  4. Any asset with a 39 Tax Useful Life was Placed into service in January of whichever year it was placed into service.

Data Files

Suggestions and Hints
  1. Whenever you are checking for errors, the first thing you should do is go through the built in error check found in the Formula Tab
  2. Likewise, you can look at all the formulas by hitting the show formulas button on the Formulas Tab.
  3. Make sure all the signs are correct! (+ or -)
  4. L13 might be the hardest one to find. With MACRS, buildings are depreciated in a straight line except for the first and last year. As such, for tax purposes, to get the accumulated depreciation, find the straight-line amount per year, then multiply it by the number of years in service less one, and then add the depreciation for the first year.

Solution

Challenge83_Solution.xlsx
Solution Video: Challenge 83|EXCEL – A Schedule of Errors

The following cells contain the errors:
K2
J6
I7
I10
L13
K13
L14
K14
L17
L20
J22
J25
L25
I27

2

I found
Challenge83_Data.xlsx (23.1 KB)
Here is my solution !

2 Likes
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This was a fun problem to solve! Within the sheet itself, little messages pop up as you solve the problem! It was a fun little motivator as I worked to find all of the mistakes. I’ve included my solution in the attachment.
Challenge83_Data_Solution.xlsx (18.3 KB)

1 Like
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Challenge83_Data.xlsx (18.3 KB)

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Quick Problem, it mostly test your ability to analyze the data and that things make sense. My best tips will be: 1 Start by looking at the errors excel recognizes, 6 problems took me seconds by just looking at the “inconsistent formula” 2 patterns of mistake, all of the mistake were very similar, once you find one try to make sure you don’t see other cells making the same mistakes with formulas or references.
best of luck solving this yourself!

HelpingOutTheNewGuy.xlsx (18.0 KB)

2 Likes
6

I liked this one. It was a lot of pattern recognition and just finding the mistakes and changing a few things. Nothing was terribly difficult to find.
Challenge83_Data.xlsx (18.7 KB)

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Super Fun, never knew that you could change the sheet to see the formulas. The Excel finder was super helpful as well! I have the solutions to the cells I found wrong in column H of Sheet 1 of the spreadsheet, of which I will attach a copy!
Challenge83_Data.xlsx (18.5 KB)

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Challenge83_Data.xlsx (18.3 KB)

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Good Challenge, learned new techniques that I didn’t think of before
Challenge83_Data.xlsx (18.8 KB)
Screenshot 2023-12-05 132213

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Challenge83_Data DONE.xlsx (18.6 KB)

Here is my completed challenge! This was a lot of fun and put my Excel use to test! If you watch for patterns it is easy to find the mistakes and fix them. Good luck!