# Audit an Excel workbook for broken, inconsistent, and hard-coded formulas

Checks your spreadsheet for formula errors, broken references, inconsistent formulas across rows, and hard-coded numbers that should be formulas.

- Topic: Data & Analysis
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Data & Analytics, Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/audit-an-excel-workbook-for-broken-inconsistent-and-hard-coded

## Prompt

```text
Audit my Excel workbook for formula errors before I rely on it or send it on.

**What the workbook does:** [e.g. "monthly commission calculation", "pricing model", "headcount budget"]
**Formulas:** [PASTE them - press Ctrl+` (Show Formulas) and copy the key ranges, or list cell + formula for the important ones. Values alone are not enough]
**Sample values:** [PASTE the same ranges as values so results can be checked]
**Known totals or results it should match:** [e.g. "total payroll should equal $1.24M from the HR system"]

Check for:
1. **Broken formulas:** #REF!, #N/A, #VALUE!, #DIV/0!, errors hidden by IFERROR, and links to other files that may be broken or out of date.
2. **Inconsistent formulas:** a row or column where one cell's formula differs from its neighbors, ranges that stop short of the last row, totals that miss new rows.
3. **Hard-coded values:** numbers typed over formulas, constants buried inside formulas (rates, FX, headcount), and manual adjustments with no note. Say which should become an input cell.
4. **Reference errors:** wrong absolute/relative references ($), formulas pointing at the wrong sheet or period, double counting, circular references.
5. **Logic errors:** wrong function (SUM vs. SUMIF), lookups on unsorted data, averages of averages, mismatched units or signs.
6. **Structure risks:** hidden rows, sheets, or columns, merged cells in data, no separation of inputs and calculations.

Return:
- A findings table: Cell/range | Issue | Severity (critical / important / minor) | Impact on results | Fix.
- The corrected formula for each critical issue.
- Excel's own tools to confirm each finding (Trace Precedents, Error Checking, Go To Special > Constants, Inquire if available).
- A short list of controls to add (check totals, input colors, a change log).

Only report problems you can see in what I pasted; list what you could not check.
```

## What to fill in

- PASTE the same ranges as values so results can be checked
- e.g. "total payroll should equal $1.24M from the HR system"

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.