Vlookup, Hlookup across tabs

[ibesmond]

I trying to develop a formula to return a variance amount from using a vlookup, hlookup, match or index.

The is the tab in which the formula would be entered.

[TABLE="width: 500"]
<colgroup><col><col><col><col><col><col><col><col><col span="6"></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]Date[/TD]
[TD]Name
[/TD]
[TD] Variance
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]02/27/15[/TD]
[TD]Mike
[/TD]
[TD] (99.95) [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]02/27/15
[/TD]
[TD]Beth
[/TD]
[TD] (11.07) [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]02/28/15[/TD]
[TD]Ashley
[/TD]
[TD] (9.76) [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]02/28/15[/TD]
[TD]Peter
[/TD]
[TD] 14.00 [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]02/28/15[/TD]
[TD]Henry
[/TD]
[TD] (14.00) [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]02/28/15[/TD]
[TD]Diane
[/TD]
[TD] 17.00 [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]02/28/15[/TD]
[TD]Chris
[/TD]
[TD] (5.01) [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]02/28/15[/TD]
[TD]Jessica
[/TD]
[TD] 106.00 [/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

The first problem I am having is that the amounts need to be entered as (99.95) because the column is using with a mail merge. Ideally it would be nice to enter the number as -99.95 or 14 but the amount on the mail merge wouldn't show as (99.95) or 14.00. I tried to convert the format to number and account with () but when the mail merge pulls the data the format is incorrect.

Secondly I have other tabs labelled Jan, Feb, Mar, Etc for each month.

the data looks similar to this...

[TABLE="width: 1013"]
<colgroup><col><col><col span="4"><col><col><col span="3"><col span="2"></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]Name[/TD]
[TD]DEPARTMENT[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/1/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/2/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/3/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/4/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/5/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/6/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/7/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/8/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/9/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/10/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/11/2015[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]David
[/TD]
[TD]BAR[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Glenn
[/TD]
[TD]BAR[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Eric
[/TD]
[TD]BAR[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Larry
[/TD]
[TD]BAR[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD="align: right"](25.67)[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD="align: right"]15.66[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD="align: right"](28.10)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Steven
[/TD]
[TD]BAR[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Chris
[/TD]
[TD]BAR[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

Each column is labeled for each day of the month, and the rows are labelled the names. I'm trying to determine if there is a formula that I can use to lookup the date and the name and return the amount. For example on 1/4/15, Larry had a variance of (25.67). The last step would be incorporating some way to change the numbers to work with the mail merge. Alternatively, is there a way to change how the mail merge interprets the data.

One problem I see is the formula would have to work across tabs. For instance Larry on 1/4/15 would be on a different tab then 2/19/15 and 3/2/15.