Precision Calculation in MS Excel
Have you ever wondered why you can’t seem to get an accurate output from Microsoft Excel when you try to make a financial statement? Well, I definitely did 
Excel will really show the figure without decimals when you format cells to show no decimals. Even if it had decimals, it would be rounded off when applicable thereby showing a figure with no decimals.
Everything seems to be fine until you make some calculations. Some percentage here, some percentage there, some subtraction here, addition there, division and multiplications everywhere. Only then will you realize that the figures you see on screen don’t seem to add up correctly. And guess what… They often don’t!
After some tinkering here and there. I discovered that even though you’ve formatted the cells, they still retain the actual value with decimals but show you a rounded off figure onscreen. Bummer!
So how did I fix the problem? Well, I asked my girlfriend to help me out on this since she is more proficient in Excel than I am. She suggested that I use the “Round” operator to force the actual value to be rounded off. Alas! It worked! But I had to add that operator to alot of other cells. Using macros could probably do the job but I told myself that there has got to be an easier and faster way to do it.
After some additional exploring with Excel’s options, I chanced upon the “WorkBook Options” which had an option of “Precision as displayed” checkbox. Voila! After a tick on the checkbox and clicking ok and then ok again on the dialog box that said “Data will permanently loose accuracy” my problem is fixed!
You can reach the “Precision as displayed” option by going to Tools > Options > Calculation > Workbook Option > Precision as displayed.