“Revenue grew from ₹1,270 lakh to ₹1,470 lakh”: a waterfall shows why: price +95, volume +210, discounts -60, a lost customer -45.
List start, each driver (positive or negative) and end, top to bottom.
Select it > Insert > Waterfall.
Click the start bar, then once more to select only it > right-click > Set as total. Same for the end bar.
Check first that start + drivers = end (the practice file has this as task 1). A bridge that doesn’t add up destroys trust in the rest of the deck.
💡 Order drivers by size or by business logic (price, volume, mix, one-offs) and keep it the same every month so people learn to read it.
⚠️ For VBA users: new chart types like waterfall don’t accept SetSourceData. Select the range first, then add the chart; that’s how our finished example was built.
Practice
The practice workbook has the data and the helper formulas behind the chart (with automatic checks). Build the chart yourself, then open the finished examples file to compare. Excel built those charts and we checked their types and series.
