Totaling sums in excel

A running total in Excel, also called “cumulative sum,” is the summation of numbers increasing or growing in quantity, degree, or force by successive additions. It is the total that gets updated when there is a new entry in the data. In Excel, the normal function to calculate the total is the SUM function, so if we have to calculate the running total to see how the data changes with every new entry, then the first-row reference will be absolute. In contrast, others change, calculating the running total in Excel.

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How to Calculate Running Total (Cumulative Sum) in Excel?

You can download this Running Total Calculation Excel Template here – Running Total Calculation Excel Template

Example #1 – Performing “Running Total or Cumulative” with Simple Formula

We can also use this data (running total) for certain analyses.

Q1) If we want to know by which month we had spent 90,000?

1. A) April – We can see the “Cumulative/Running Total” column from the table. It shows that the cumulative spending till April month is 90,000.

Q2) Suppose we want to know the % of money spent that we had spent till July?

1. A) 58% – We can take the amount spent till July and divide it by the total amount spent as follows.

We had spent 58% of the money until July.

Example #2 – Performing “Running Total or Cumulative” with “SUM” Formula

In this example, we will use the SUM in excelThe SUM function in excel adds the numerical values in a range of cells. Being categorized under the Math and Trigonometry function, it is entered by typing “=SUM” followed by the values to be summed. The values supplied to the function can be numbers, cell references or ranges.read more instead of the “+” operator to calculate the cumulative in Excel.

But, first, apply the SUM Formula in excel.

While using the SUM function, we should consider summing the earlier month spent and the current month spent. But for the first month, we should add earlier cells, i.e.cumulative, which will be regarded as zero.

Then, drag the formula to other cells.

Example #3 – Performing “Running Total or Cumulative” with a PivotTable

To perform running total using a PivotTable in Excel, we should create a PivotTable first. Create a pivot tableA Pivot Table is an Excel tool that allows you to extract data in a preferred format (dashboard/reports) from large data sets contained within a worksheet. It can summarize, sort, group, and reorganize data, as well as execute other complex calculations on it.read more by selecting the table and clicking on the PivotTable from the “Insert” tab.

We can see the PivotTable is created now. Drag the “Month” column into the “Rows” field and the “Amount Spent” column into the “Values” field. The table would be as follows:

Again, drag the “Amount Spent” column into the “Values” field to create a total running value. Then, right-click on the column as follows:

Click on “Show Value As,” and you will get an option of “Running Total In.”

Now, we can see the table with a column having cumulative values as follows:

We can change the table’s name by editing the cell with a “Sum of Amount Spent2.”

Example #4 – Performing “Running Total or Cumulative” with a Relative Named Range

We need to make temporary changes in the Excel options to perform running total with a relative named range.

Change Excel referenceCell reference in excel is referring the other cells to a cell to use its values or properties. For instance, if we have data in cell A2 and want to use that in cell A1, use =A2 in cell A1, and this will copy the A2 value in A1.read more style from A1 to R1C1 from Excel options as below:

“Reference style R1C1” refers to “Row 1” and “Column 1.” This style can find positive and negative signs used for a reason.

In Rows: –

• The +(positive) sign refers to a “Downward” direction.
• The – (negative) sign refers to an “Upward” direction.

Ex- R[3] connects the cell 3 rows below the current cell. R[-5] connects the cell 5 rows above the current cell

In Columns: –

• The +(positive) sign refers to the “Right” direction.
• The – (negative) sign refers to the “Left” direction.

Ex- C[2] refers to connecting the cell, which is 2 columns right to the current cell, and C[-4] refers to connecting the cell, which is 4 columns left to the current cell.

To use the reference style to calculate the running total, we must define a name with certain criteria.

In our example, we have to define the name by “R[-1]C” because we are calculating the cumulative sum of the cell’s previous row and column with every month’s expense. Define a name in Excel with “Cum”(You can define it as per your wish) as follows:

Go to the “Formulas” tab and select the “Define Name.”

Then, the “New Name” window will pop out and give the name per your wish and the condition you want to perform for the name you defined. Here, we take R[-1]C because we will sum the previous row of the cell and column with every month’s expense.

Once the name is defined, then go to the column of “Cumulative/Running Total” and use the defined name in the SUM function as follows:

It tells us to perform SUM with the cell “RC[-1}” and “Cum” (Which is already defined), and in the first cell, we get the same expense incurred in January.

Then, drag down the formula to the end of the table. We can see the cumulative results will be out as below:

Things to Remember

• The running total/cumulative will help analyze the data’s information for decision-making purposes.
• A relatively named range running total is performed to avoid the problems with inserting and deleting rows from the data. This operation will refer to the cell as per the condition given though we insert or delete rows or columns.
• Cumulative in Excel is mostly used in financial modelingFinancial modeling refers to the use of excel-based models to reflect a company’s projected financial performance. Such models represent the financial situation by taking into account risks and future assumptions, which are critical for making significant decisions in the future, such as raising capital or valuing a business, and interpreting their impact.read more, and the final cumulative value will be the same as the “Total Sum.”
• The “Total Sum” and “Running Total” are different. The key difference is the computation we do. The “Total Sum” will perform the sum of each number in the data series. At the same time, the “Running Total” will sum the previous value with the current value from the data.

Recommended Articles

This article is a guide to Running Total in Excel. Here, we discuss calculating the running total (cumulative sum) using a simple formula, SUM formula, PivotTable, and named range in Excel, along with practical examples and a downloadable Excel template. You may learn more about Excel from the following articles: –

• Running Total in Power BI
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SUM Cells in Excel (Table of Contents)

• Introduction to SUM Cells in Excel
• Examples of SUM Cells in Excel

Introduction to SUM Cells in Excel

When performing data operations in any context such as research, business, and academic projects etc., the sum operation is commonly used. Excel stores a number in an individual cell, and while performing the sum operation across the cells, the entire range(s) has to be taken into consideration. Excel provides various ways to sum the numeric contents in cells.

Syntax:

The syntax of the SUM function is SUM(number1, number2… number n).

Examples of SUM Cells in Excel

Let’s go through the examples as described in the following section.

You can download this SUM Cells Excel Template here – SUM Cells Excel Template

Example #1

We have Sales data for various products for a particular time period. Their product IDs have represented the products. The dataset is as shown in the following screenshot.

Now, we intend to obtain total sales. This will, essentially, be sales obtained after adding sales for all the products. So, at the bottom, we will have “Total”. Using the SUM function, we will obtain total sales. The SUM function will be implemented as shown below. Note, here; we selected all those cells that contain sales figures for respective products. We can pass individual numbers separated by commas or pass range(s) in the SUM function. Once done, complete the bracket and press Enter Key.

If we pass the argument (range of cells containing numeric values) properly into the SUM function, then we get the correct result. The following screenshot shows the cells summed up using the SUM function. In the cell, we got the total sales as a number, and in the formula bar, we can see the formula that sums up the numeric contents in the mentioned range.

Example #2

Here, we have marks for five different subjects for a certain number of students. Now, our task is to obtain total marks for each student. This we will do by adding the marks for five marks using the SUM function. Once implemented in the first cell, the function then will have to be copied down across all the requisite cells. The following screenshot shows the marks of data for students. In the Total columns, we want a total of five subjects for each student.

We implemented the SUM function to sum cells across the range containing marks of five subjects, as shown in the following screenshot. Observe how the function has been implemented. Once the requisite range is passed as an argument, close the function and press Enter Key. If implemented correctly, we shall obtain the right results.

As can be seen in the following screenshot, we obtained the total marks for each of the students using the SUM function, following the above procedure properly. Note that to verify that the right correct totals have been obtained, just select the range we had used for addition and see the sum in the status bar. If both the figures match then, we have successfully managed to sum cells to obtain total marks for each student.

In this example, summing marks for each subject across different students is not meaningful, as a total of marks for all students is never desired.

Example #3

In the first example we discussed, we summed cells across rows, and in the second column, we summer cell across columns. The context governs the summing of cells, and we have seen it with examples. In this example, we will require to sum across rows as well as columns because both sums stand meaningful.

Let’s first understand the data. We have product sales data for five different years, from 2014 to 2018. The sales figures for different products for these years are given, as can be seen in the below screenshot.

Our task is to obtain total sales figures for each of the products for all the years and total sales figures for all the products. The former sum task essentially means summing across columns, while the later sum task essentially means summing across the rows. First, we will perform sum of cells across columns, i.e. total sales for each product across different years. We can obtain the sum by implementing the SUM function, as shown in the below screenshot. Observe how the function has been implemented and what range it takes into consideration. Once done, close the function and press Enter Key.

We obtained the total across all the years in the data, and the total figures can be seen as shown in the below screenshot.

We are just half done, and now we want to obtain total sales for each of the years. For this, we implemented the function, as can be seen in the below screenshot. Here, one fact must be noted carefully. As we can see, the Year label is also a number, so while performing sum operation for summing across cells in the range, ensure that cell with year value is not selected, or else we shall end up obtaining incorrect results. Such scenarios are prone to this common blunder when obtaining sums through shortcuts.

As described in the preceding section, we implemented the SUM function and successfully obtained the results, as can be seen in the following screenshot.

Once all the totals have been obtained, we should check if the results are correct. One of the ways to do this is to select the range that we intend to sum. Excel gives Average, Count, and Sum details for the selected range in the status bar. Validate the requisite figures by cross-checking. As can be seen in the following screenshot, the sum of numbers in the selected cells matches the sum figure in the status bar.

Things to Remember

• In Excel, we can sum across cells using the SUM function; however, based on the context, it must be decided if summing across rows is feasible or summing across columns.
• Sometimes, SUM may return an error. These errors must be handled appropriately using suitable functionalities provided by Excel.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to SUM Cells in Excel. Here we discuss How to SUM Cells in Excel along with practical examples and a downloadable excel template. You can also go through our other suggested articles –

1. How to SUM in Excel
2. Excel SUMIFS with Dates
3. How to Sum Multiple Rows in Excel
4. SUMIF Formula in Excel