Skills You'll Use

Data Validation Lists SUMIFS Formulas KPI Calculations Doughnut Charts Column Charts Currency Formatting Conditional Formatting

Instructions

Create an Expenses Table with Date, Description, Category, Payment Method, Amount, and Notes. Add Data Validation dropdowns for categories and payment methods, and use SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, AVERAGEIFS, and MAX for summaries and KPIs. Then, build KPI Cards for total expenses, current month, daily average, highest expense, and transaction count. Include monthly and category summaries, a column chart for monthly trends, and a doughnut chart for category mix.

Last, apply consistent colors, currency formats, headings, spacing, and alignment, then add sample transactions and verify that all summaries and charts update automatically.

Below is a sample formula to sum expenses matching: The month starting at '$A25', Dates before the next month, and the category in 'B$24':

=SUMIFS(ExpenseTable[Amount],ExpenseTable[Date],">="&$A25,ExpenseTable[Date],"<"&EDATE($A25,1),ExpenseTable[Category],B$24)

In short: total monthly spending for one category in Dashboard!B25.

Sample Data

Category Total Spending
Food & Dining $120.00
Transportation $60.00
Groceries $90.00
Bills & Utilities $350.00
Other $520.00

Challenge

The main challenge is connecting clean expense data to accurate formulas and dynamic charts, so the dashboard updates automatically without errors.

Expected Result

A professional, user-friendly dashboard that automatically shows KPIs, monthly trends, and spending by category whenever new expenses are added.

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