An experienced CFO and auditor told a much younger me that good worksheets would outlive us both at the company where we worked. The lesson has proved true in this case and repeatedly throughout my time in the business.
Many organizations have discovered ‘informal’ worksheets that are critical to operate the enterprise. The specific worksheet had to do with treasury cash management and was updated daily by 10:00 A.M. for all finance managers. Enterprises subject to Sarbanes-Oxley reviews of controls and procedures often ‘found’ worksheets at the core of operations. These weren’t from pre-programmed screens of gigantic financial applications suites.
I recently put in a 21st Century version of the long-ago treasury cash management worksheet for use on a shared-on-cloud spreadsheet updated by multiple people so that everyone had the same information as soon as it was available. The methods? Cut and paste from other applications, manually entered numbers from cash functions, automatic feeds from A/P payment preparation, and advisory notes from key people. 21st Century collaborative shared data in the cloud without programming at work. The results? The same decision-making on about the same schedule as long-ago from photocopied sheets handed around a room.
Many ERP, logistics, and order-management applications have ‘seams’ that have to be stitched together. The methods? Spreadsheets. Easier to develop and implement. Manual costs can be so much cheaper than complex analysis and programming for all possible situations and issues. Faster time to function than involving developers. “Temporary spreadsheets” will outlive time in job functions – even though it could be “automated”.
How many “temporary” spreadsheets (that are critical to operations) have you seen? There are good ways to move beyond them. Talk to EkaLore for ideas.
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