Building a New Document or Table to Feed Into the ABA Analysis Template

 
 
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 In Technical Bulletin #10, instructions were provided for building a duplicate, or replicate schedule to feed into a schedule already existing in the ABA template. At times, there is need to provide elaboration on other data that goes into the analysis. On occasion, it is not enough to just provide a number - it is helpful to show the source of that number, and how it is arrived at. This function as described below, will allow the user to build a table or document that develops the number(s) that will then feed into the ABA template.

An example of creating a table to do the above is in entering historical non farm income. ABA allows for the entry of just one number for each year, but that net amount can be the result of several other numbers. For example, when you look at the tax return for the husband and wife in a farming business, you might find that there are wages, EI payments, interest, and other non farm income for both of them.

One option would be to add up the various non farm income amounts, and enter the total in Row 45 on the DS SUM page. Another option is to build a table to report and process the numbers, and then have the total amount feed into the Net Wages cell. A table could be developed to look like the following:

To create and use a table such as this, the following is suggested:
  • Add a blank Excel worksheet in the location desired as described in Technical Bulletin # 10.
  • Enter the names and numbers into the cells as appropriate.
  • Make sure the Home toolbar is displayed. Clicking on Home on the main menu will bring it up. Many of the functions you will need will be displayed on this toolbar.
You can do other formatting in the cells as follows:
  • Right click on the cell you want to reformat
  • Click on Format Cells
  • Choose from the various tabs. Some comments are:
    • Number allows you to make changes in the way the number is displayed.
    • Alignment allows you to change the location of the entry in the cell, merge cells and provide other instructions about how the entry appears in the cell(s).
    • Protection allows you to protect the cell(s) so you don’t inadvertently make changes to the number or formula.
  • Enter formulas into the cells to create the results you want. To put a formula in the cell you need to type “=”and then the formula. Multiply is “*”, and divide is the “/”.
  • Have the results flow to the desired cell in the ABA document by clicking on the target cell, entering “=”, then clicking on the source cell the number is to come from, and then Enter.
  • When you print the pages of the report, you will want to print this page as well, as it provides supplementary information valuable to the documentation.
 
 
 
 
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For more information about the content of this document, contact Dean Dyck.
This document is maintained by Marie Glover.
This information published to the web on June 10, 2015.
Last Reviewed/Revised on May 31, 2017.