Money math needs clean rounding — to the cent for totals, to the nickel for cash, to the dollar for estimates. ROUND to 2 decimals fixes floating-point pennies; MROUND snaps to cash denominations.
The example
Clean money values, no stray fractions of a cent.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raw | To cents |
| 2 | 12.3456 | 12.35 |
| 3 | 8.005 | 8.01 |
The formula
The formula:
How it works
How it works:
ROUND(value, 2)rounds to the nearest cent — essential after multiplying or applying percentages, which create extra decimals.MROUND(value, 0.05)rounds to the nearest nickel; use 0.10 or 0.25 for other cash denominations.ROUND(value, 0)gives whole dollars for estimates.- Round at the point of calculation, not just with display formatting — formatting hides decimals but stored values still carry them, causing totals that look off by a cent.
Formatting is not rounding. Setting a cell to 2 decimal places only changes what you see — the underlying value keeps its full precision, so column sums can be a penny off. Wrap the value in ROUND to fix the stored number.
Try it: interactive demo
Raw amount.
Variations
Nearest nickel
Cash rounding:
Whole dollars
Estimates:
Round a total
Tax then round:
Pitfalls & errors
Round the value, not just the view. Number formatting hides decimals but doesn’t remove them — totals can drift a cent.
Round once, at the end. Rounding intermediate steps can compound small errors.
Banker’s rounding. Excel rounds .5 up; some accounting rules round to even — check your standard.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
How do I round money to cents in Excel?
How do I round cash to the nearest nickel?
Why are my totals off by a cent?
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