Miricle Solutions has been appointed the exclusive South African distributor of Spreadsheet Professional, the standard tool used by all of the world`s major accountancy firms and over 6 000 other organisations around the world to address the risks associated with spreadsheets.
The package consists of a collection of tools to enable the user to build, test, document and use spreadsheet models more effectively and at the same time reduce the number of errors usually found within spreadsheets.
Adrian Miric, Miricle Solutions MD, says: "The spreadsheet remains one of the most important sources of information for companies of all sizes. It is generally the basis upon which all other business intelligence activities are based.
"With the plethora of compliance legislation affecting companies today and in the future, the additional emphasis that has been placed on the integrity of information systems has resulted in a deeper understanding of the role that spreadsheets play in all organisations. Unfortunately, this focus has also indicated that the majority of spreadsheets, whether they are used for reporting or decision-making, contain errors."
Miric says although it is never possible to guarantee that a spreadsheet is completely accurate, Spreadsheet Professional can examine for 25 common types of errors, and identify many of the most common mistakes that occur.
Each cell that might contain an error is identified in a report, together with the reasons why Spreadsheet Professional has been programmed to flag the cell. The common inaccuracies identified are shown in the options section of the tool.
Some of the main features included in the package are:
* Methods to visualise cell formulae.
* Testing tools.
* Spreadsheet comparison tools.
* Sensitivity tools.
The Spreadsheet Formula Tracer enables the user to analyse any formula to any depth and thus understand how it was derived.
Miric says: "It does this by providing a visual representation of how each formula is calculated. This view can be altered in a number of different ways in order to suit particular needs. The representation can also be saved or printed, thereby providing an easy way to document the relationships between the different formulas within the spreadsheet."
The Maps report generates a structural map of a spreadsheet, showing where all the inputs, unique formulas and labels occur. It also shows whether a unique formula has been copied to other cells. It is useful to identify inputs and potential anomalies within the spreadsheet.
He adds: "Particularly where a number of people work on the same document, it becomes necessary to compare two different spreadsheets, two versions of the same spreadsheet or even two runs of the same spreadsheet. The Spreadsheet Comparison tool enables you to perform these comparisons and produces a table showing the differences."
A number of views are presented. The user can select whether they want to see the differences in inputs, formulas or results of the spreadsheets.
The sensitivity and breakeven analysis tool allows the user to quickly produce and report sensitivities for any cell within a spreadsheet. This is particularly useful when trying to establish answers to questions such as: "How far can revenues drop before we stop making a profit?"
The Spreadsheet Professional is immediately available from Miricle Solutions. Further information and trial copies are available from www.AuditExcel.co.za.
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