Spreadsheet Check and Control | 
 enlarge | Author: Patrick R. O'beirne
Publisher: Systems Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $24.98
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Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 471244
Media: Paperback
Pages: 204
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 190540400X
EAN: 9781905404001
ASIN: 190540400X
Publication Date: September 2005
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Book Description
This spreadsheet book is quite different from every other book on Microsoft Excel. If spreadsheet users had a driving licence, this would be their seat belt, air bag, navigation aid, repair kit, hazard indicators, and the rules of the road. This new book describes how to produce well-crafted spreadsheets that are easy to understand, maintain, audit, and operate. It shows how to ensure data quality and accuracy and protect against formula and operational errors. Each of the 47 techniques is explained with examples and has a self-test practical question with answers at the back of the book. The book s support web site provides sample spreadsheets for these tests. The material gives spreadsheet users more confidence in their work, and saves time chasing and fixing easily preventable errors. Those whose job is to check the work of others, whether they are software testers or auditors, will learn formula auditing techniques and be able to reveal hidden data and formulas. This book should be adopted by organizations concerned to reduce compliance costs by being able to demonstrate management of material risks and increase controls on spreadsheet based financial reporting.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Spreadsheet Check and Control September 21, 2007
J. C. Rosenberg (Arizona)
Entertaining and very useful introduction to spreadsheet errors and how to detect and fix them.
I read it cover to cover and worked all the examples and exercises and am a much better modeler for the efforts.
 very basic May 9, 2007
S. Stechmann
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I skimmed the book and it seemed to contain very basic suggestions for building controls into spreadsheets. I was hoping for more and honestly didn't read the book. Would be suitable and very helpful for an Excel novice.
Are your spreadsheets error free? Look again! August 9, 2006
Martin Green (London, UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I hate proofreading my work. I know what's supposed to be there so that's what I see. But if a typo slips through the net there's no real harm done and someone else usually spots it and lets me know. But auditing a spreadsheet is a different matter. A simple error could easily go unnoticed and its consequences might cascade through the workbook without ever being discovered. So this book is a Godsend! It explains, clearly and with illustrated examples, how to design and build reliable, error-free spreadsheets and how to use the tools that Excel provides for auditing and error-checking. Each section concludes with a self-test and there is a support website. I though I knew my way around Excel pretty well, but reading this book I found myself saying "I didn't know you could do that!". If you build spreadsheets you should read this book.
Valuable book November 24, 2005
Dr. G. Hinson (New Zealand)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Spreadsheet Check and Control addresses a woefully underrepresented aspect of information security, namely integrity. Whether in the hands of ordinary untrained computer users or professional software developers, spreadsheets are deceptively easy to program and all too easy to program incorrectly. The author provides a compelling and clearly-written set of tips and techniques for finding and resolving programming errors that, unchecked, could cause serious consequences. The `47 key practices' noted in the subtitle are collected under headings such as fundamentals (3 key practices), error identification (4 practices) and error correction (11 practices), all within chapter 3 on calculation. Previous chapters cover specification and inputs, the remainder cover outputs and review.
The reader is given just enough explanatory information to understand the issue at hand, followed by advice on how to avoid or fix the problem. There are numerous examples throughout the text, illustrated with Microsoft Excel screenshots (the reader can download the same example spreadsheets from the author's website to try out the techniques described). There are review questions at the end of each of the key practices with answers provided at the end of the book, and a good selection of annotated hyperlinks to further information sources.
Many of the practices are accompanied by relevant case studies - real world security incidents drawn from sources such as the RISKS list managed by Peter Neumann (http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks) and a number of public audit reports which identified spreadsheet errors. It focuses the mind to realize that a simple spreadsheet mistake can lead to errors amounting to millions of dollars.
This is definitely a practitioner's book, not a theoretical or academic tome. With minimal preamble, each section gets quickly down to the nitty-gritty tools and techniques of finding and eliminating errors. The writing style is clear and easy to read.
Save red faces all round by buying, absorbing and passing-on this book, especially if you personally develop spreadsheets or if your organization is subject to Sarbanes Oxley and related regulations. Avoiding even a trivial spreadsheet mistake may well pay for the book. Avoiding a large one may save your career.
Beginning to End - Better Spreadsheets November 22, 2005
Damon Longworth (Missouri, USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Whether your a beginner or a seasoned pro, I would recommend this book. It is not collecting dust on my bookshelf. This is one of the first books I have read that took me from pre-design to maintaining the finished product. The book gave me proven design principles that will prevent many of the common pitfalls of my spreadsheet models.
One of the first things I noticed was how the book took me from the preparation before design - to getting the data in - to error checking, with an in-depth look at calculations and functions - to the finished presentation of the data. The book was an easy read, not filled with lengthy technical jargon.
Spreadsheet Check and Control will be a great addition to your collection, as it is to mine.
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