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Audit
Excel Formulas to find Financial Spreadsheet Errors
SPREADSHEETS are notoriously
difficult to
validate. Undetected errors have caused large financial losses and
expensive
litigation. The Spreadsheet
Detective
helps ensure model correctness in
Microsoft® Excel®
by providing automated
documentation
that
highlights mistakes. The tool received a 5 Star
(top)
rating
from ZD Net.
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Audit Features
The Spreadsheet
Detective
generates graphical annotations that can:-
- Show
how formulas have been
copied throughout a workbook.
- Clarify
cryptic "A1"
references using English AutoNames.
- Easily
follow complex
Precedent/Dependent
relationships.
- Compare
different versions of
a spreadsheet.
- Perform
advanced
inter-worksheet data flow analysis
for
complex
models.
- Highlight
bad sensitivity
relationships.
- Assist
with the understanding
and manipulation of
Named
Ranges.
- And
much more...
In combination these clarify the structure of
complex models.
They go well beyond Excel's in built auditing features.
Bottom Line —
 Research
"Spreadsheet
Detective is
one of the
longest established and most comprehensive suites of auditing tools
that we have seen. This is not to say that other products may not have
features that are not in Spreadsheet Detective or that, in some
instances, we might prefer a competitor’s implementation of a
particular feature but, overall, the product is clearly the market
leader, and deservedly so."
Read
full extract.
Excel Spreadsheets & Section
404
of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)
The following is an extract from The
Use of Spreadsheets: Considerations for Section 404 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act PricewaterhouseCoopers, July 2004:-
"An article in the May
24, 2004 issue of Computer World indicated that,
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that 20% to 40% of spreadsheets have
errors, but recent audits of 54 spreadsheets found that 49 (or 91%) had
errors, according to research by Raymond R. Panko, a professor at the
University of Hawaii.”
"The Journal
of Property
Management on July 1,
2002 stated, “30 to 90 percent of all spreadsheets suffer from at least
one major user error. The range in error rates depends on the
complexity of the spreadsheet being tested. In addition, none of the
tests included spreadsheets with more than 200 line items where the
probability of error approaches 100 percent.”
"Perform an
on line search
for spreadsheet errors or spreadsheet audit, and you will find a number
of major failures attributed to spreadsheet inaccuracies that hit the
press in the past year alone."
The
Original Spreadsheet Detective
The Spreadsheet
Detective has been revealing modeling errors
since
1997. Many features have been added since that time based on
extensive customer feedback. Other less established spreadsheet
auditing tools may offer
some superficially similar features, but they lack the depth and
quality of the Spreadsheet
Detective.
Customers include Lotus 123,
KPMG,
Ernst &
Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu,
Morgan
Stanley,
CitiBank, Bankers Trust, Australia Post, Bentleys, BDO
Nelson Parkhill, AMP, Preston Resources, Westpac Bank,
William Mercer, Pannell Kerr Forster, Caladonian Life, Deutsche
Bank, Thiess Construction, Queensland Treasury, Duke Energy, ANZ Bank,
Guinness
Brewery, Navigator Project Finance, General Motors, ...
Partners include 
Pricing
and Support
The Detective is
priced very reasonably from approximately
US$180
for corporates and US$48
for
individuals. See the Price
List
for additional information. There is also a Free
Download available.
Excel 2010
is fully supported,
as are Excel 2007, Excel 2003, Excel XP and Excel 2000.
Support is mainly provided using the email address
below.
The Spreadsheet
Detective is
an essential tool when auditing Excel spreadsheets.
Melissa and Anthony Berglas
Southern Cross Software
Queensland Pty Ltd
ABN 41 079
368 200
E-Mail:
info@spreadsheetdetective.com
http://www.SpreadsheetDetective.com
"Microsoft
and the Office logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries."
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This can
also be shown in a condensed formula map report. More...
Worksheet
Comparison
Accurately compare different versions of a spreadsheet even if rows or
columns have been inserted or deleted. More...
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