sum with moving range

[snax500]

In Excel2000, I have data that changes monthly and I want a sum
function that changes with it. For example, one month it may look like
this:

may
payroll 1000
500
100

I want to sum to be the 1600. The next month it may look like this (
the # of rows are always changing):

june
payroll 200
300
100
100
200
and I want the sum to be 900. I want the sum formula to start like this
(formula is in "A10") =Sum(a9somehow look up the word payroll and
give me the cell one column to the right). It would always adjust by
looking up the word payroll.

Thanks

 

[Ryan Christiansen]

Is there any reason why the range can't always be the same number of
cells? For example, if you SUM a range that includes empty cells, the
empty cells will return 0 values and will not affect the accuracy of
the SUM.

Does that help?

-Ryan

 

[snax500]

No, I just provided an example. There are many expense catagories above
and below and I need to specifically look for the expense name.

thanks

 

[Biff]

Hi!

Is this what your data looks like:

category A.........10
...........................20
...........................15
payroll................10
...........................10
...........................25
...........................52
category C.........27
...........................36
...........................94

If so, does "category C" *ALWAYS* follow "payroll"? Finding where the
payroll starts is easy but you need to find where it ends. Will "payroll"
ever be the last category?

Need more details. The more you provide the better response you'll get.

Biff