Financial Model - Column Set-up

When I start building a model from scratch, the first thing I do is format column widths to set up the structure of the spreadsheet. The purpose of the set-up is to ensure that:

  1. There is enough space for item names (there are some long ones)
  2. Indentation is convenient
  3. There is enough space in each cell for large numbers
  4. There is enough space for line item assumptions (although best practice is to leave all assumptions in the input sheet)

My personal preference is:

  1. Col 1 - 5: 1 (indentation)
  2. Col 6: 50 (item name)
  3. Col 7 - infinity: 15 (for numbers)

I have seen some models that makes no adjustments to column widths and I have seen some that only makes adjustment to the item name column.

What is your preference?

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