Excel / Word object uneven char spacing

Hi all,

I have a series of linked excel worksheets in a word document. I am using small font (8pt times) and all the tables have uneven spaces between characters of words. I understand this has something to do with a kerning problem. Whats weird is if I insert an excel worksheet that is not linked…. type some words in at the same font size… then click out of it – still the same problem. Uneven char spacing!

Any ideas?

Regards,
Christin