auditing spreadsheets has become a major issue, says randy johnston at k2 enterprises.
robert w. scott reports in the latest accounting technology:
through mid-february, johnston had performed seven consulting engagements and he noted that “auditing spreadsheets has come out everywhere i’ve been.”
what audit teams are telling the cfos and ceos about the changes is that they must take control of the process.
“when you tell them their final financials are prepared in excel and are not tied back to their accounting system,” he says, “they start to realize they are the ones that could be in jail.”the fact that excel can create problems in generating and distributing financial information has long been known. but it took the new generation of regulation to put some urgency in doing something about overuse of excel.
…
“this is something that really came into focus when sarbanes oxley was rolling out,” says tony munns, the member of brown smith wallace who runs the risk management practice for the st. louis-based firm.
and it’s not just the small businesses that are using excel the wrong way.
“so many companies, right up to the fortune 500, do their final analysis and consolidation in excel spreadsheets,” says munns. “anyone can deliberately or accidentally change a field and it won’t necessarily be found.”
the solution: analysis, budgeting and forecasting software. a few leading vendors:
- www.adaptiveplanning.com
- www.centage.com
- www.blackline.com
- www.claritysystems.com
- www.frxsoftware.com
- www.hostanalytics.com
- www.prophix.com
- www.sagenorthamerica.com
for some reason, microsoft declined to comment for accounting technology. wonder why.
