18 Excel charts every finance professional should know
- Power-user
- Mar 1
- 7 min read
Whether you want to analyze profitability, show a P&L, track budget performance or compare M&A acquisition targets, choosing the right chart will bring the clarity that makes the difference in supporting decision making.
But finding the proper chart and building it in Excel can be time-consuming. Between layout the data, adjusting formats, tweaking axes, and ensuring readability, it’s easy to spend a lot of time.
Even if most people don't know about them, there are actually dozens of chart types out there that can be used to visualize data efficiently.
In this article, we’ve put together a list of 18 essential Excel charts every finance professional should master if you work in finance:
If you're interested to play with some of the complex charts below, the good news is that we've made them - and 100 more charts! - available andready to use in the Power-user Library.
Waterfall charts
Waterfall charts are designed to show how an initial value increases or decreases through a series of changes, making them ideal for visualizing the step-by-step evolution of a financial metric.
The Waterfall is a highly popular chart to represent things like:
A Profit & Loss (P&L) Statement, with each financial aggregate
The contribution of various factors to explain the differences between actuals and budget, or between N and N-1
The monthly variations explaining a yearly KPI
...
Waterfall charts help break down complex data into a clear, structured view, making it easier to understand the impact of individual components on a final result.
Line charts
The line chart is a fundamental yet powerful visualization tool. It represents data points linked by lines, making it ideal for illustrating trend and variations over time.
Augmented column (or bar) charts
Another super-famous chart is the column chart (or the horizontal equivalent, the bar chart). This chart remains excellent for many situations when comparing different categories.
But instead of sticking to the very basic version of these charts, we recommend to augment them with some interesting twists.
Column chart with a difference or CAGR arrow
In the example below, the bar chart is improved by adding an arrow that shows the difference in percentage, or the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the period. This little twist helps summarize the trend.
Column chart with average
Here instead of an arrow, a line is added to represent the average of the different categories. This makes it easier for the eye to spot the difference to the mean.
Column chart with variation lollipops
The below version of the bar chart adds lollipop charts on top of the columns. The lollipop charts can be used to represent the variation in percentage or in value versus the previous year, or versus budget.
By combining the column and lollipop charts we can replace what would otherwise be displayed as a table, making it much easier to read.
Fan charts
A less common chart, but still very efficient, the fan chart is typically used to illustrate uncertainty in forecasts by displaying possible future ranges in a fan-like shape.
It is particularly useful for visualizing inflation projections, GDP growth forecasts, interest rate scenarios, or stock market volatility.
Bullet charts
A bullet chart is a visualization designed to display performance against a target in a compact and easy-to-read format.
It consists of a bar representing actual performance, a marker indicating the target, and background shading to provide context, such as qualitative ranges (e.g., poor, satisfactory, excellent).
In finance, bullet charts are commonly used to track key metrics like revenue vs. target, profit margins, or expense control, helping analysts and executives quickly assess performance and identify trends at a glance.
Candlestick chart
A candelstick chart, or box-and-whiskers, is sometimes used to visualize the distribution of data across a selected measure. It highlights key statistical insights, such as the median, variability, and potential outliers, giving a clear picture of how data points are spread.
This type of chart is frequently used to show the volatility of financial metrics like stock returns or expense fluctuations.
Arrow charts
This is really an underutilized chart. The arrow chart typicall represents a (better?) alternative to using column charts with 2 years side-by-side.
It visually represents direction and magnitude using arrows, making it ideal for showcasing trends or movements. It can feature arrows pointing either horizontally or vertically.
This type of chart is excellent for highlighting comparisons and changes, such as actual versus budget figures, year-over-year differences, or before-and-after data.
Dumbbell charts
A dumbbell chart is quite similar to an arrow chart, although a bit less efficient if you ask us. This visualization is used to compare two values across categories by connecting them with a line, resembling a dumbbell. It highlights the difference or change between two points, making it useful for tracking progress, disparities, or trends over time.
In finance, dumbbell charts are commonly used to compare financial metrics before and after an event, such as revenue growth pre- and post-merger, changes in stock prices, or differences in analyst estimates vs. actual earnings. They provide a clear, concise view of changes and variations across multiple categories.
Slope charts
A slope chart is a type of line chart that visualizes changes between two points in time or across categories, emphasizing trends and comparisons.
It consists of lines connecting data points, showing increases, decreases, or stability. In finance, slope charts are often used to compare financial metrics—such as revenue growth, profit margins, or stock performance—before and after an event (e.g., a policy change, merger, or earnings report).
They help analysts quickly identify key shifts and outliers, making them valuable for performance reviews and strategic decision-making.
Gantt charts
Gantt charts, are widely used for project planning and management. They provide a structured visual representation of tasks, with each task displayed as a horizontal bar spanning its duration on a timeline.
This makes it easy to track project progress, deadlines, and dependencies between tasks. Gantt charts are particularly useful for managing complex workflows, ensuring accountability, and keeping teams aligned: whether for budgeting timelines, M&A deal flow, or any long-term financial planning.
Sankey charts
Sankey charts are designed to illustrate flows between different categories, with arrows sized proportionally to the volume they represent. They provide a clear, intuitive way to visualize the movement of resources, whether it’s money, energy, or materials.
In the past few years, Sankey diagrams have become popular to illustate the decomposition of a P&L into each of its components.
Mekko charts
Mekko charts, also known as Marimekko charts, provide a comprehensive view of market composition, making them a powerful tool for strategic discussions on growth opportunities or acquisitions.
They segment an industry, company, or product portfolio, visually representing the relative size and proportion of each category within the total. With variable bar widths reflecting market share or revenue, Mekko charts make it easy to identify key trends, relationships, and opportunities at a glance.
Adding a data row further enhances clarity by displaying the values that define segment proportions or providing additional context for insights
Tornado charts
Tornado charts (sometimes also called butterfly charts), are used to compare two datasets side by side.
In finance, they can be used as the go-to tool for sensitivity analysis and risk assessment. Simply put, it visually represents risk and impact: the wider the bar, the greater the influence a variable has on the outcome. This is particularly useful for determining which factors, such as inflation, interest rates or exchange rates, have the most significant effect on financial projections.
Another way finance professionals use the Tornado is to compare the profile of 2 companies over mutliple criteria. The chart can display for instance the number of employees, business size for key products, cash reserves, margin etc. of 2 companies in a context of an M&A project to try to visualize how they complement each other.
Valuation football field
A valuation football field chart is a financial visualization used to compare different valuation methods for a company or asset. It displays a range of values from multiple approaches—such as DCF (Discounted Cash Flow), comparable company analysis, and precedent transactions—as horizontal bars on a common axis, resembling a football field.
In finance, this chart helps investment bankers, analysts, and executives assess a company's fair value by visualizing valuation discrepancies and consensus ranges. It is widely used in M&A, investment decisions, and equity research to provide a clear, at-a-glance summary of valuation estimates.
Panel chart
A panel chart displays multiple related charts side by side, sharing the same axes for easy comparison. It helps break down complex datasets into smaller, more digestible segments while maintaining a consistent scale.
In finance, panel charts are often used to analyze trends across different categories, such as comparing revenue growth across regions, tracking multiple stock performances over time, or evaluating key financial metrics for different business units. They provide a structured way to spot patterns, correlations, and anomalies across multiple datasets without overwhelming the viewer.
Bubble chart
A bubble chart is an improvement on the scatter plot, where data points are represented by circles (bubbles), with their position determined by two numerical variables and their size representing a third variable. A color code can even add a fourth dimension.
This makes it useful for visualizing relationships between multiple dimensions in a single chart.
In finance, bubble charts are often used to analyze investment portfolios, market capitalizations, risk vs. return trade-offs, or revenue vs. profit margins across companies. They help identify trends, outliers, and correlations, making them valuable for financial analysts and investors looking to compare multiple
How to create these charts efficiently in Excel and PowerPoint?
Many of the charts mentioned above are not included in Excel’s chart options, making them difficult (if not impossible) to create manually.
With the Power-user add-in, you can find and insert all these charts - and many others - in just 2s from the Charts Library containing over 100 different chart types.
As an additional bonus, the charts can be pre-formatted to match your company style and branding, so that you don't waste time manually re-applying the same formatting options every time.