The use of Excel Styles to create dynamic color coding in business planning, is a great way to achieve uniform, robust and seamless color formatting. Once implemented, the spreadsheet user can quickly modify the Style (i.e. fill color), as opposed to cycling through the entire workbook and changing each instance of the color format.

Applying this approach to color formatting in business planning, can enable the implementation or roll-out of a company-wide template, which still offers users the flexibility and option to change cell fill colors – but in a controlled environment via Excel Styles.

The following spreadsheet is featured in the below video.

Strategize Financial Modelling – Dynamic color coding.xls

How to create a New Cell Style

Simply select HOME -> a choose Style -> More -> New Cell Style (Keyboard short-cuts Ctrl H + J + N).

The below window will appear, which will offer the following check box options.

For the purposes of this Excel Styles example, only the Fill option is applicable because the Style, which will be created must only alter the Fill Color and nothing else. Otherwise, existing cell formats will would be overridden by this dynamic color coding cell Style.

Practical Value in Business Planning or Financial Modelling

The application of Excel Styles in financial spreadsheet is a simple, yet powerful tool to enhance and uphold the notion of best practice financial modelling; which is for it to be “error-free, robust and uniform in improving a company’s financial modelling and reporting”.