How to Create a Waterfall Chart in Excel – Guide

The waterfall chart is a versatile tool that can be used to provide a quick view of positive and negative changes over a period of time. The initial and final columns are shown, with individual negative and positive adjustments represented as floating steps. Some waterfall charts add lines between columns to make the chart look like a bridge, while others leave the columns floating.

Waterfall charts have become popular in final the 20th century, when the management consulting organization McKinsey & Company used them in presentations to clients. It was then widely popularized by McKinsey colleague Ethan M. Russell in his 1999 book The McKinsey Way on corporate analysis. The key feature of a waterfall chart, according to Rasil, is that it shows changes not just over time, but relative to past periods or other measurement milestones. Every step of the waterfall leads you to the result final and shows how you got there. And the beauty of a waterfall chart is the simplicity of its construction, even when analyzing complex information, which means it has the potential to be of great use in the future.

How to Create a Waterfall Chart in Excel

Expenses: Income: Now let’s create the waterfall chart. We will start with the expenses, and then work our way down to the income.

The Insert tab and the Waterfall Chart button on the left can be used to create a waterfall chart in Excel. The data for this waterfall chart will be based on your data and it will be placed in the middle of the worksheet. You can move or resize the graph as needed by dragging it.

In this chart, the balance final is shown as a total. However, if you double-click the data point that should be considered a total or subtotal (in this case, the balance final), Excel will correct the mistake and show the balance as a subtotal.

The chart below is a visual representation of how many people are in the United States. The title of the chart is “US Population by Age”, and it has a gridline style. The data in the chart is broken down into age groups, with the youngest age group being 0-14 years old, and the oldest age group being 65 years or older.

Final note

This guide will show you how to create a waterfall chart in Excel. By following this guide, you can create a beautiful waterfall chart that will show off your data in an impressive way.