Why are there small discrepancies when I confirm Empower calculations using Excel? - WKB25086

ENVIRONMENT

• Empower 3

ANSWER

Although Empower can display or report up to 14 decimal places, internal calculations for real numbers are not limited to 14 decimal places and will be more precise than Excel.

It is not unusual to see different numbers, especially around the thirteenth and fourteenth decimal places when comparing Empower values to Excel for the same equations.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• When trying to verify calculations using Excel, change the precision for the fields in Empower that are used in calculations to show the maximum precision, and use those values in Excel.
• Iterative calculations or complex equations may show final values with a greater difference between Empower and Excel due to the number of calculations involved.
• Custom fields can be created in Empower for each separate part of a complex calculation and the final equation, where the ROUND function is used to limit each separate calculation to the same number of decimal places used in Excel. You can use this methodology to compare the numbers more reliably.