how do i display a variance in all positive numbers?

[Susan]

I am working with a spreadsheet that has an operating margin and a planned
operating margin and some months I have a postive OM and some months a
negative OM but when I display the variance between the two I'd like to
display the variance as just a number, but automatic formating sometimes
makes it a negative and sometimes a positive depending on which of the two
numbers is largest. Can someone help me with this? thanks, Susan

[Bearacade]

I am not sure if I understand what you are asking, but I will take a stab at it.

I am assuming that both of the numbers are positive, (you can't have a negative operating margin, can you?) So you can simply do a =A1-B1 to get the difference, assuming column A is planned and column B is actual.

If you want to difference to be a positive number, put a ABS before you formula, =ABS(A1-B1)