Symptoms
In a PivotTable, Microsoft Excel may calculate an incorrect grand total for a calculated field.
Cause
This problem occurs when you use a calculated field (a field that is based on other fields) in a PivotTable, and the calculated field is defined by performing a higher order arithmetic operation, such as exponentiation, multiplication, or division on other fields in the PivotTable. For example, this problem occurs when you use a calculated field that is named Revenues that returns the multiple of the fields Units * Price. The individual items in the calculated field return the expected results. However, the grand total does not return the expected result for the calculated field.
Status
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
More Information
When a calculated field includes more than one field in the data range, Excel computes the grand total for the sum of each component field, and then performs the arithmetic operation.
For example, the following example PivotTable contains a calculated field that is named Revenue. This field is defined as Price * Units.
A1: Sum of Revenue B1: C1: D1:
A2: Product B2: Units C2: Price D2: Total
A3: Alpha B3: 1 C3: 10 D3: 10
A4: B4: 1 Total C4: D4: 10
A5: Alpha Total B5: C5: D5: 10
A6: Bravo B6: 2 C6: 11 D6: 22
A7: B7: 2 Total C7: D7: 22
A8: Bravo Total B8: C8: D8: 22
A9: Charlie B9: 3 C9: 12 D9: 36
A10: B10: 3 Total C10: D10: 36
A11: Charlie Total B11: C11: D11: 36
A12: Grand Total B12: C12: D12: 198
The grand total of 198 does not equal the subtotals of 10+22+36, which is 68.
Excel computes the grand totals for the calculated field
Revenues in one of two ways, as follows.
SUM(Units)*SUM(Price)
SUM(1+2+3)*SUM(10+11+12)
This is 6*33=198.
