VLOOKUP two different items, use whichever one has a number - vba

Question

I have a list of financial metrics in column A, rest of the columns are the time periods the financial data is for.
Let's say I'm trying to calculate a ratio, but the financial metrics in A are not entirely unique, in the sense that a metric type may have more than one associated metric depending on how the company reports the metric.
For example, let's say I need Depreciation Expense on the income statement... that item may be reported as Depreciation, or DepreciationAndAmortization, or something else.
Any ideas how the formula in the ratio I'm trying to calculate can lookup the metric in A1, use the number immediately to the right as part of the formula... and if the metric Depreciation for example is 0, it would look for the next one I specify, like DepreciationAndAmortization, and use that one instead as the first one isn't reported.

Answer 1

If I understand correctly, this should do it:
=MAX(INDEX(B:B,MATCH("*depreciation*",A:A,)),INDEX(B:B,MATCH("*depreciation*",A:A,)+MATCH("*depreciation*",INDEX(A:A,1+MATCH("*depreciation*",A:A,)):INDEX(A:A,100+MATCH("*depreciation*",A:A,)),)))

Answer 2

If the alternatives are say in E2 and E3 then:
=MAX(VLOOKUP(E2,A:B,2,0),VLOOKUP(E3,A:B,2,0))
ie try both and take whichever is larger.

Answer 3

About your concern on the answer of Excel Hero that returns Value error, you can use the function "iferror" and returns "0" if the value/date you're looking for isn't available.
=IFERROR(MAX(INDEX(B:B,MATCH("*depreciation*",$A:$A,)),INDEX(B:B,MATCH("*depreciation*",$A:$A,)+MATCH("*depreciation*",INDEX($A:$A,1+MATCH("*depreciation*",$A:$A,)):INDEX($A:$A,100+MATCH("*depreciation*",$A:$A,)),))),0)