Rounding to the Nearest Half Dollar

When working with financial data, one common need is to round amounts to some specific point. For instance, you may need to round amounts to the nearest half dollar. The traditional way to perform such a rounding task is to use the ROUND function, with a formula like this:

=ROUND(E27/0.5,0)*0.5

The formula divides the value in E27 by 0.5 (half a dollar), and then rounds it to zero decimal places. The value is then multiplied by 0.5 to get it back to the form you need. If you prefer to not multiply and divide by decimal amounts, you can accomplish the same task in this manner:

=ROUND(E27*2,0)/2

Perhaps an even better approach is to use the MROUND function. This function will round a value to any multiple you specify. In this case, if you want to round the value in E27 to the nearest half dollar, you would use this formula:

=MROUND(E27,0.5)

The MROUND function is part of the Analysis ToolPak. If the function doesn't work for you, you'll need to make sure it is available by choosing Tools | Add-Ins. (If you are using Excel 2007, click the Office button and then click Excel Options. Click Add-ins at the left side of the screen, make sure Excel Add-Ins is selected in the drop-down list at the bottom of the screen, and then click Go.)