Panko (2008)94% of the 88 spreadsheets audited in 7 studies have contained errors.
Abreu, et al (2015)Spreadsheets can be viewed as a highly flexible programming environment for end users.
Sajaniemi (1998)The results given by spreadsheets are often just wrong.
Krishna, et al (2001)Programmers exhibit unwarranted confidence in the correctness of their spreadsheets.
Irons (2003)Spreadsheet errors are pervasive, stubborn, ubiquitous and complex.
Panko & Halverson (1996)Every study that has looked for errors has found them... in considerable abundance.
Cunha, et al (2011)Spreadsheets are notoriously error-prone.
Panko & Ordway (2005)Most large spreadsheets have dozens or even hundreds of errors.
Abreu, et al (2015)Despite being staggeringly error prone, spreadsheets are a highly flexible programming environment.
Panko (2013)It is irrational to expect large error-free spreadsheets.
Paine (2001)Spreadsheets are alarmingly error-prone to write.
Csernoch & Biro (2013)Studies have shown that there is a high incidence of errors in spreadsheets.
Durusau & Hunting (2015)Spreadsheets are dangerous to their authors and others.
Panko (2014)Despite overwhelming and unanimous evidence... companies have continued to ignore spreadsheet error risks.
Panko (2015)Research on spreadsheet errors is substantial, compelling, and unanimous.
Mireault & Gresham (2015)Spreadsheets are often hard, if not impossible, to understand.
Murphy (2007)60% of large companies feel 'Spreadsheet Hell' describes their reliance on spreadsheets.
Abraham & Erwig (2007)Spreadsheet errors have resulted in huge financial losses.
Chadwick (2002)Spreadsheet errors... a great, often unrecognised, risk to corporate decision making & financial integrity.
Hermans & van der Storm (2015)Spreadsheets are the most popular live programming environments, but they are also notoriously fault-prone.
Kulesz & Ostberg (2013)Spreadsheets are more fault-prone than other software.
Panko (1999)Every study, without exception, has found error rates much higher than organizations would wish to tolerate.
Reschenhofer & Matthes (2015)Spreadsheet shortcomings can significantly hamper an organization's business operation.
Abraham, et al (2005)Spreadsheets contain errors at an alarmingly high rate.
Powell, Baker, & Lawson (2009)1% of all formulas in operational spreadsheets are in error.
Colbenz (2005)Errors in spreadsheets are as ubiquitous as spreadsheets themselves.
Caulkins, Morrison, & Weidemann (2006)Your spreadsheets may be disasters in the making.
Galletta, et al (1993)Even obvious, elementary errors in very simple, clearly documented spreadsheets are... difficult to find.
Howard (2005)Spreadsheets... pose a greater threat to your business than almost anything you can imagine.
Teo & Tan (1999)Most executives do not really check or verify the accuracy or validity of [their] spreadsheets...
Dunn (2010)Spreadsheets are extraordinarily and unacceptably prone to error.
Miller (2005)Untested spreadsheets are riddled with errors.
Ayalew (2007)A significant proportion of spreadsheets have severe quality problems.
Beaman, et al (2005)Errors in spreadsheets... result in incorrect decisions being made and significant losses incurred.
Kruck & Sheetz (2001)...few incidents of spreadsheet errors are made public and these are usually not revealed by choice.
Rust, et al (2006)Spreadsheets have a notoriously high number of faults.
Bishop & McDaid (2007)The quality and reliability of spreadsheets is known to be poor.
Panko (2007)The issue is not whether there is an error but how many errors there are and how serious they are.
Price (2006)The untested spreadsheet is as dangerous and untrustworthy as an untested program.
Bock (2016)Spreadsheet development must embrace extensive testing in order to be taken seriously as a profession.
Mireault (2015)Developing an error-free spreadsheet has been a problem since the beginning of end-user computing.
Burnett & Myers (2014)The software that end users are creating... is riddled with errors.
Nixon & O'Hara (2010)Spreadsheet errors are still the rule rather than the exception.
Caulkins, Morrison, & Weidemann (2006)People tend to believe their spreadsheets are more accurate than they really are.
Ross (1996)A lot of decisions are being made on the basis of some bad numbers.
Sakal, et al (2015)Overconfidence is one of the most substantial causes of spreadsheet errors.
Caulkins, Morrison, & Weidemann (2008)Spreadsheets are commonly used and commonly flawed.
Raffensperger (2001)Never assume a spreadsheet is right, even your own.
Chen & Chan (2000)Spreadsheets are easy to use and very hard to check.
Nixon & O'Hara (2010)It is now widely accepted that errors in spreadsheets are both common and potentially dangerous.
This article provides example scenarios and explains various approaches for calculating the time value of money using Microsoft Excel.
The functions discussed include FV
, FVSCHEDULE
, PV
, NPV
, PMT
, RATE
, and NPER
.
For more information, also see Pitfalls of Excel's NPV function.
Data Validation is a very useful Excel tool. It controls what can be input into a cell, to ensure its accuracy and consistency.
In this blog post we will explore 11 useful examples of what Data Validation can do:
Data Validation is a useful way to provide help for users when they're filling in a data entry form.
But the Data Validation popup message covers the remaining input cells and is very distracting, especially if the form contains many cells to fill. And it cannot be dismissed.
This article describes a technique for adding help using an information icon 🛈 with hyperlink and Data Validation message.
A common problem around web forums and blogs is how to plot blank cells in Excel charts.
There is a lot of confusion about plotting of hidden and empty cells, about what constitutes a blank cell, and about various workarounds that purport to produce blank cells that will or will not be displayed in a chart.
A new feature in Excel 2016, Show #N/A as an empty cell, solves the pain and frustration experienced by generations of Excel users trying to avoid plotting what look like apparently blank cells.
Do you want to know how to make a header in Excel? Or are you wondering how to add the footer "page 1" to the current worksheet?
This tutorial will teach you how to quickly insert one of the predefined headers and footers and how to create a custom one with your own text and graphics.
Topics include:
Excel can be used to conduct a forensic audit, gathering evidence of possible fraud.
We cannot eliminate mistakes or "fudging" in financial data, however we can positively try to minimize it.
Here are five techniques that can be applied using Excel for tracing such issues:
Excel projects of any significance are very often complicated. Documenting such projects is crucial for auditing and maintainability.
Fortunately, Microsoft provides several options for documenting Excel projects:
[Note: The article also suggests using the N()
function to include documentation in a formula. This is a risky practice that may result in errors. iⁿ advises not to use the N()
function for documentation.]
Excel's data validation feature is underused because many users don't realize how versatile it is, especially where dates are concerned.
Dates seem to complicate things, but only in your head! This feature handles dates fine.
Here are four ways to express dates using data validation:
With the hype of deep learning neural nets, and machine learning algorithms, it's easy to forget that most of the work in data science involves accessing and preparing data for analysis. Indeed, not all data is Kaggle-ready. The reality is: data is often far from perfect.
Do your consultant (and budget) a favor and follow these rules-of-thumb when using spreadsheets to collect and organize your data: