Best Practice Modeling – Make these 5 changes today

Our guest author, Myles Arnott discusses what Best Practice Modeling is and offers 5 practical, easy to implement tips to get you started.

Best Practice Tip #1: Apply a modeling life cycle
Best Practice Tip #2: Give structure to your spreadsheets
Best Practice Tip #3: Make cells consistent based on their behavior
Best Practice Tip #4: Use similar formulas
Best Practice Tip #5: Build error checks in to your models

Read on…

What is so special about Go To Special? [15 tips]

We briefly covered Excel’s Go To Special function in the Managing Spreadsheet Risk series and in this post, we are going to explore Go to special feature in detail and learn how to use it.

What is Go To Special?

Go To Special is a tool within Microsoft Excel that enables you to quickly select cells of a specified type within your Excel worksheet. Once you get to grips with this function and what it can be used for you will wonder how you ever lived without it. Read on…,

Using external software packages to manage your spreadsheet risk [Part 4 of 4]

Background – Spreadsheet Risk Management

In the Managing Spreadsheet Risk series so far we have looked at the concept of spreadsheet risk and how to manage it both at a company level and at a spreadsheet level using Excel functionality. In this final article we are going to have a quick look at an example of spreadsheet auditing software.

What to look for in a Spreadsheet Risk Management Software

First off I should state that there is a wide range of spreadsheet auditing solutions in the marketplace of different types and styles and at a variety of costs. In this section I would like to take a little time to explain the criteria we applied when we were sourcing auditing software.

Excel’s Auditing Functions [Spreadsheet Risk Management – Part 3 of 4]

This series of articles will give you an overview of how to manage spreadsheet risk. These articles are written by Myles Arnott from Excel Audit Part 1: An Introduction to managing spreadsheet risk Part 2: How companies can manage their spreadsheet risk Part 3: Excel’s auditing functions Part 4: Using external software packages to manage […]

How Companies Can Manage Spreadsheet Risk [Part 2 of 4]

In the second installment on Excel Spreadsheet Risk Management, Myles takes a look at How companies can manage spreadsheet risk?.

He tells us, how we can set a formal governance framework to reduce or mitigate spreadsheet risk. Go ahead and read. And please tell us how your company manages spreadsheet risk in comments.

Introduction to Spreadsheet Risk Management

This series of articles will give you an overview of how to manage spreadsheet risk. These articles are written by Myles Arnott from Excel Audit

Part 1: An Introduction to managing spreadsheet risk
Part 2: How companies can manage their spreadsheet risk
Part 3: Excel’s auditing functions
Part 4: Using external software packages to manage your spreadsheet risk

The potential impact of spreadsheet error hit the UK business news recently after a mistake in a spreadsheet resulted in outsourcing specialist Mouchel issuing a major profits warning and sparked the resignation of its chief executive. Over the next few weeks we will look at the risk spreadsheets can introduce to an organisation and the steps that can be taken to minimise this risk.