Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Buggy spreadsheets: Russian roulette for the corporation | The Register
Buggy spreadsheets: Russian roulette for the corporation The Register: "How many scenarios can you imagine where a momentary loss of concentration could cost over $1bn? Perhaps a nuclear power station meltdown...or if a currency trader hit a few wrong keys? Well, another possibility is a simple spreadsheet error.
In October 2003, soon after announcing third quarter earnings, Fannie Mae had to restate its unrealised gains, increasing them by $1.2bn. This highly unwelcome outcome was said to stem from 'honest mistakes made in a spreadsheet used in the implementation of a new accounting standard'.
The really, really bad news is that millions of similar errors are almost certainly being made every year, many of them in business-critical financial spreadsheets. Although they are the quintessential end-user tool, spreadsheets of any complexity are just as hard to write and maintain as any other kind of software - if they are to yield consistently accurate results, anyway."
Interesting article with several references to other articles about errors in spreadsheets.
In October 2003, soon after announcing third quarter earnings, Fannie Mae had to restate its unrealised gains, increasing them by $1.2bn. This highly unwelcome outcome was said to stem from 'honest mistakes made in a spreadsheet used in the implementation of a new accounting standard'.
The really, really bad news is that millions of similar errors are almost certainly being made every year, many of them in business-critical financial spreadsheets. Although they are the quintessential end-user tool, spreadsheets of any complexity are just as hard to write and maintain as any other kind of software - if they are to yield consistently accurate results, anyway."
Interesting article with several references to other articles about errors in spreadsheets.
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