Charts and Visualisations in Excel

by Paula Guilfoyle
access120 days access
cpd hours4 CPD hours
price£75+vat

This course will enable you to:

  • Tell a compelling story with your data by inserting, amending and formatting charts in Excel
  • Use a wide range of charts including some less well known ones like bubble charts, box and whisker charts, waterfall charts, heat maps and stock charts
  • Know the difference between good and bad charts and apply best practice to creating data visualisations
  • Understand the different Excel formatting options and create an effective common chart for your data
course screenshot 1
course screenshot 2
course screenshot 3
course screenshot 4
course screenshot 5

We all know how to use simple column and bar charts in Excel, but do you know how, when and why to use less common charts such as the bubble chart or a heat map? In recent years Microsoft has created a much broader range of charts and visualisations for you to choose from. These new options, along with the classic suite, allow you to tell the story of your data.

This course will enable you to make the most of the tools at your disposal, understanding what makes a good or bad chart and how to create effective data visualisations. From the basics of how to add and amend charts and apply templates to them, through commonly used charts and formatting options, to some of the less common charts that will really mark you out as an expert.

Charting basics

  • Quick charts and chart sheets
  • Quick Analysis handle and Recommended Charts
  • Using Ideas
  • Charting ribbons
  • Chart Elements and chart formatting
  • Working with Chart Elements
  • Creating custom chart templates

Data visualisation

  • What is data visualisation?
  • The principles
  • Effective visualisations
  • Choosing the right visualisation

Common charts

  • Working with line charts and trendlines
  • Bar and column charts
  • Working with bar and column charts
  • Working with histograms and Pareto charts
  • Tips for creating area charts
  • Working with area charts
  • Working with pie charts and doughnut charts
  • Scatter charts and correlation
  • Working with scatter charts
  • Working with funnel charts

Less common charts

  • How to create a bubble chart
  • Reading box and whisker charts
  • Creating a box and whisker chart
  • Waterfall charts and Excel limitations
  • Profit and loss waterfall chart
  • Heat maps and surface area charts
  • Stock charts
  • Combo charts
Paula Guilfoyle is a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland. She practiced in Industry for over 15 years, working with both small and large private companies, before moving on to teach Excel and Power BI to accountants and professionals. Paula has given many talks and presentations in the areas of Excel, spreadsheet use, PowerBI and business intelligence, and has published many articles on the same subjects.
ACCA logo

ACCA partner with accountingcpd.net to provide high quality CPD for members. As an ACCA member, you are required to complete at least 40 relevant units of CPD each year, where one unit is equal to one hour. 21 units must be verifiable; the other 19 can be non-verifiable.

Verifiable CPD
Your accountingcpd.net course counts as verifiable CPD, if you can answer "yes" to these questions:

  1. Was the learning activity relevant to your career?
  2. Can you explain how you will apply the learning in the workplace?

You select courses that meet these criteria, and as you complete each course you get a CPD certificate so you can provide ACCA with the evidence that you undertook the learning activity.