Beyond the Spreadsheet: How to Use Excel's Goal Seek Feature

Work backward with your data to solve complex financial and business problems.

Welcome! When you’re working with financial models or business plans, you often know the result you want to achieve, but you don't know what variable to change to get there. For example, "What sales target do I need to reach to make a profit of $50,000?" or "What interest rate would get my monthly loan payment down to $800?" Manually guessing numbers is a tedious process. This is where Excel’s **Goal Seek** feature becomes your best friend. It's a powerful tool that automates the "what-if" analysis for you.

What is Goal Seek?

Goal Seek is a "What-If Analysis" tool in Excel. It works in reverse: you provide a target result for a formula, and Goal Seek finds the input value that will produce that result. Instead of trial and error, Goal Seek does the calculations instantly and with perfect precision.

How to Use Goal Seek:

1. Set the Objective: Go to the **Data** tab on the Excel ribbon, click on **What-If Analysis**, and select **Goal Seek**.
2. Define the Target: In the "Set cell" box, enter the cell that contains the formula you want to solve.
3. Input Your Goal: In the "To value" box, type the specific numerical result you want the formula to return.
4. Identify the Variable: In the "By changing cell" box, enter the cell that contains the input value you want to change. This must be a cell with a number, not a formula.

Example: Let's say you have a cell (B3) that calculates `Profit = Sales - Costs`. Your `Sales` are in cell B1 and `Costs` are in B2. You want your `Profit` to be $50,000. Here’s what you would do:

• Set cell: `B3` (your profit formula)
• To value: `50000` (your target profit)
• By changing cell: `B1` (the sales number you want to change)

After you click "OK," Goal Seek will instantly change the value in cell B1 to show you exactly how much in sales you need to make a profit of $50,000. It's that simple and incredibly powerful for financial planning, loan calculations, and project management.

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