multiplying a time by an hourly rate to give a total cost

hi all

just a simple one i hope...i am trying to multiply a hourly rate (cell format is Currency) by a period of time in hours (cell format is custom - hh:mm) how can i keep this cell displaying a period of time whilst the result cell displays an amount in currency?

Try

=time_cell*24*hourly_rate

Excel tries to be helpful and guesses the format that you would like - in this case it has guessed wrong, as it generally chooses the format of the first cell used in the formula. You can use the Format Painter icon to copy the format from your hourly rate cell to the cell with the formula - just click the icon once then click on the formula cell. Or, you could apply Format | Cells to the cell with the formula and set it to currency. Also, you could turn your formula around, so that the hourly rate cell is the first used in the formula.

You should realise that times are stored internally by Excel as fractions of a 24-hour day, so your formula should include this factor, i.e.:

=rate_cell * time_cell * 24

Hope this helps.

Pete