Authors
Roland Piquepaille
Abstract
Admit it: when you look at a spreadsheet, you trust the results. You don't question the totals or the percentages you see.
But data, and formulas used to compute what appear in the spreadsheet cells, are both prone to errors.
According to computer scientists from Oregon State University (OSU), 90% of the 100 million spreadsheets produced each year in the U.S. alone, contain non-trivial errors. This is why they've developed a semi-automatic debugger for spreadsheet systems.
They say that this new approach could save billions of dollars annually. As they've licensed their software to a new company in Oregon, this technology might be one day included in the spreadsheet tools we use.
Sample
Spreadsheet users are overconfident.
Publication
2007, ZDNet, 29 May
Most users of spreadsheets are overconfident, they believe that the data is correct.
But it has been observed that up to 90 percent of the spreadsheets being used have non-trivial errors in them.
In fact, one auditor has said he never inspected a single spreadsheet during his entire career that was completely accurate.
