Argento writes and asks:
“How can I produce numbers with minus symbol at the end of the number?”
In other words, Argento wants to show his numbers with trailing negatives. That is to say, instead of showing -125, he needs to show his numbers as 125-.
I’m not an accountant, so I never really understood why anyone would want to see trailing negatives. To me, it just looks as though you keep forgetting to finish writing your math problem.
Nevertheless, you can force trailing negatives easily with a custom number formatting.
First, highlight the numbers you are working with.
Then right-click and select Format Cells.
When the Format Cells dialog box opens, enter this as a custom format:
#,##0;#,##0-
This tells Excel to represent negative numbers with the number itself and a minus symbol at the end of the number.
The result is a cosmetic effect that represents negative numbers with a trailing minus symbol.
There you go Argento. No need to thank me with a box of cookies in the mail (preferably before Halloween).
RELATED STUFF
“I’m not an accountant, so I never really understood why anyone would want to see trailing negatives.”
I am, and I don’t either.
To get the positive and negative numbers to line up right, use underscore to create an invisible hyphen on the positive numbers:
#,##0_-;#,##0-