Spreadsheet Risk Management and Compliance

Spreadsheet Risk Management and Compliance
Author: Ted Sparrey

The increasing focus on continuous process improvement, risk management and compliance within financial control functions as a result of the introduction of Sarbanes Oxley and other legislation has identified a potentially critical weakness for many corporates.

The reliance on Spreadsheets for critical financial reporting processes, consolidation, reconciliations, commission calculations, revenue recognition and other finance processes leading up to the release of financial statements is a major risk for many major corporates.

The lack of risk management processes around these Spreadsheets is another major audit and compliance risk.

Recently, a clutch of software companies have launched technological solutions to help organizations tackle the risk involved in the utilization of Spreasheets in critical financial reporting processes. Some have extended the reach of control to include Access Databases too.

What we have seen is a range of solutions, some basic - some very elaborate, that feature a range of activities including federated search, inventory, risk assessment, remediation, secure storage, access control, version control, change management, link migration management, cell by cell auditing and dashboard reporting features.

The leading provider right now is Prodiance Inc. www.prodiance.com a partner of Trintech Inc. www.trintech.com a leading provider of reconciliation, compliance and risk management technologies. Competition comes from Cluster Seven, Finsbury and a clutch of others that have tried and failed to match Prodiance's lead in the market place.

For more information on Spreadsheet Controls and Risk Management, don't hesitate to contact me at ted.sparrey@supaworld.com.