In accounting, a spreadsheet is a large sheet of paper that displays the financial position of company. It spreads, or shows, all of the information (such as costs, income and taxes) on a single sheet of paper and organizes information into columns and rows. Spreadsheet software records and processes information in the same structure. For example, a spreadsheet showing accounting transactions could group data in areas such as accounts payable, account receivable and payroll. The data can then be manipulated by a formula to give a total or sum.
Spreadsheets present a lot of information in an easy-to-read format, and can help decision-makers see the big picture of an organisation.
A commonly used spreadsheet software is Microsoft Excel.