2. Proper Date Patterns

Check Your Date Patterns

While CFO Scoreboard supports a huge range of date "patterns" for the headers over each column -- and even supports them in reverse chronological order(!) -- there are still some patterns that aren't recognized yet.

The easiest way to correct date patterns is generally to just create a new row in Excel and type in the pattern  MMM YYYY, and extend this pattern across the whole row.

Demonstration

We took a look at the files below:

• Demo PL #2
• Demo BS #2

The error we saw is:    Unable to find a row containing dates in the Income Statement spreadsheet you uploaded

Solution

The fix for this batch, as you may have guessed, is concerned with creating a row of dates in a pattern that CFO Scoreboard can recognize. To do that, just a few simple steps:

1. There's already a blank row above the existing row of dates. Starting with the cell above the first column of financials, type Mar 2014. Next to it, type Feb 2014. Finally in the third, type Jan 2014. These three cells should match the months shown in the original date headers below them.
2. To avoid having to manually type out the remainder of date columns, just highlight those three cells, and with your mouse drag the extension handle all the way to the right until you hit the last column. The last month that gets extended should be July 2007.
3. With that done, the original row of dates (below what you just created) can be deleted.
4. To duplicate your new row of dates to the other document in this batch, just highlight the whole row, and copy/paste into the other doc. Don't forget to delete the original row of dates, just like in step #3 above.