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Eliminate the Spreadsheet to Eliminate the Risk

27th Sep 2012
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4th September 2012

“It is completely within the realms of possibility that a single, large, complex but erroneous spreadsheet could directly cause the accidental loss of a corporation or institution…” Grenville J. Croll, The Importance and Criticality of Spreadsheets in the City of London (2009).

Spreadsheets are prone to human error and so represent a significant risk during the production of financial reports. Leading accountancy software provider, CaseWare, believes it is crucial that users look at ways to revolutionise their annual financial statements and entirely remove the reliance on error-prone spreadsheets and word processor documents.

In June 2012, CaseWare carried out a survey of the UK’s Top 100 accountancy practices to find out what proportion of corporate clients are still producing final accounts in Microsoft Word or Excel. Although an encouraging 75% of practices stated that less than 1 in 10 of their clients are using these programs, the results showed a large number still rely on software which is clearly not fit for purpose.

“The survey results have highlighted our concern that many corporate clients continue to use inadequate tools rather than purpose-designed accountancy software,” said Simon Warren, Managing Director of CaseWare. “With one in eight respondents telling us that more than 40% of their clients still use Word and Excel, a major shake-up is needed in the way financial reports are prepared.

The only real way to address this is to have software that has a clear, audited pathway from the source general ledger right through to the completed financial statements,” said Simon Warren.  “Large organisations need to look seriously at software that provides the security, audit trail, efficiency and accuracy that eliminates these kinds of errors.”

Removing the risk

From flexible corporate reporting to powerful internal audit tools, CaseWare’s range of software solutions can ensure businesses of all sizes stay on top of their financial performance. CaseWare UK GAAP and iXBRL compliant financial statements pass the toughest scrutiny, guard against routine errors and deliver efficient, accurate and reliable results.

Using an inherent system of checks and balances, CaseWare’s extensive cross-checking also highlights any potential problems in detail and makes it far easier to track them down. This makes it virtually impossible to send out account files with an error – a system which prevents both the arithmetic and human errors so often associated with examples of spreadsheet risk.

With problems that have existed since the earliest days of spreadsheets more than 25 years ago, this out-dated system must surely soon make way for far superior accounting tools. 

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