The present disclosure describes a value referred to as a compound object that stores multiple values in a single cell, wherein those multiple values are organized according to a defined structure. The compound object may store multiple values according to a known defined data structure such as, for example, a record, vector, matrix, table, or array. In other embodiments, the compound object may store multiple values as any nested combination of any one of the known or user-defined data structures. Each of the values stored in the compound object are individually referenceable and can fully participate with spreadsheet functionality including calculations, referencing, and formatting.