Zeros With the Accounting Format

The accounting format has several advantages but one disadvantage is that it will yield a “–“ (dash) rather than a zero when a cell evaluates to be zero.  This can be easily fixed by creating a custom format that slightly modifies the accounting format.

 Accounting Format Before Modification
_(* #,##0.00_);_(* (#,##0.00);_(* "-"??_);_(@_)

 Accounting Format Modified to Get 0.00 Rather and  -  for Zero
Values
_(* #,##0.00_);_(* (#,##0.00);_(* 0.00_);_(@_) 

The easiest way to create this custom format is to first format the cell using the accounting format.  Next bring up the format dialog box and select Custom Format.  The current cell format (i.e. the accounting format) will be displayed in the Custom Format dialog box and all you will have to do is to modify the format sequence.

 

Modifying the Accounting Format to return “0.00” Rather than a “–“ (dash)

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