Guidance on spreadsheet best practice is therefore gradually emerging, as it depends upon what you are doing. Here are some documents to get you started on the subject of best practice.

Most internal auditors have used spreadsheet software for common tasks, such as calculating complex revenue adjustments and preparing financial reports. And, while spreadsheets can be excellent tools.

Imagine someone in your finance department receiving a basic request to revise quarterly revenue forecasts for two products your company markets. A new spreadsheet is opened. Expected prices and volumes are typed into the first four cells on the top row of the spreadsheet. The total of the four quarters is computed in the fifth cell. As this is a simple request, a simple spreadsheet is created. It might look similar to Figure 1 below. Watch for proper spreadsheet practices that may have been compromised.