Spring 2014 issue of Horizons

FEATURE

Another word to the wise, do not create embedded “if” statements . For example:

There are currently researchers working with Excel add-ins that can help remind us to clean up our files. (Check out the free download of BumbleBee under 2013 publications at www.felienne.com .) The growing complexities ushered in by the era of big data are going to dictate that companies add rigor to their data collection, storage and analysis processes. Excel is not immune to this. It is easy to focus on the more complex software and data systems, but very few organizations leverage any software as much as Excel. Although big data issues are most certainly on the horizon for many companies, we (95% of U.S. companies) may be better served to focus on the bigger problem of harnessing and controlling the “small data.”

∙ DO NOT use a formula such as: “=if(A1=A2,”Yes”,if(B1=B2,”No”,”Error”))”

∙ DO break it up into two individual statements, such as: “=if(A1=A2,”Yes”,”No”)” and “=if(B1=B2,”Yes”,”No”)”

Another great hint is to use Excel’s functions . For example:

∙ DO NOT use a formula such as: “=A1+A2+A3”

∙ DO use “=sum(A1:A3)”

As a final note, be sure to add self-checking formulas that confirm the results of your work.

Source: Felienne Hermans’ presentation, “Spreadsheets: The Dark Matter of IT.”

RubinBrown’s Business Advisory Services Group RubinBrown’s greatest asset is the ‘thought leadership’ of our diverse group of seasoned professionals. We have directed and consulted with a wide variety of companies, ranging from Fortune 500 public companies to startup private companies.

Michael T. Lewis, CFA — St. Louis Partner-In-Charge Business Advisory Services Group 314.290.3397 michael.lewis@rubinbrown.com

Matt Wester, CPA, CFE — Denver Partner Business Advisory Services Group 303.952.1277 matt.wester@rubinbrown.com

Sunti Wathanacharoen — Kansas City Partner Business Advisory Services Group 913.499.4462 sunti.wathanacharoen@rubinbrown.com

page 16 | horizons Spring 2014