Values typed over formulas
Look at the formula bar, not the cell face
A value typed over a formula is a hardcoded override by another name. The cell looks current. It is not. When the rent roll or driver sheet moves, the typed figure stays put and pretends the model still follows. That is how "finished" tabs fail upstairs.
If the formula bar shows a literal where a live link used to live, you are not looking at a rounding choice. You are looking at a freeze.
People type over formulas for speed: lock a rent, hold a vacancy, pin a growth rate for the deck. The intention is temporary. The paste is permanent until someone audits the bar. Your audit starts with the columns that feed NOI and the print pack, not with decorative sheets.
Scan order that finds freezes fast
- Pick the driver columns tied to rent, occupancy, and operating expenses.
- Arrow down while watching the formula bar on every row that still claims to be linked.
- Stop on every literal. Note sheet, column, row, and the typed value.
- Ask whether the literal matches last period, a peer, or a one-off deck edit.
- Only then decide restore versus documented override with an owner.
- Growth rates typed as 0.03 instead of a link to the assumptions tab.
- Occupancy frozen after a rent-roll paste.
- Expense ratios typed to "clean" a volatile month.
- Bridge plugs that used to be formulas and are now round thousands.
Restore without erasing the audit trail
Put the formula back. Keep the typed figure in a comment or side column if you need history. Do not leave the literal in the live path and hope the next reviewer notices. Recompute. Confirm neighbors move. Re-run the read-back.
- Restore the link to the true driver.
- Park the old literal somewhere labeled "typed over formula — do not use."
- Recompute the dependent block.
- Confirm the flag clears.
- Sign off. The add-in names the row. You approve the send.
What you are defending
Moraton reports values typed over formulas by row. It does not certify the model. It does not replace judgment. If the bar shows a literal, treat the cell as guilty until the formula is back and a person has signed the flag.
