Common Model Issues & Overcoming Them

Lee's experience as detailed above has lead him to developing and refining techniques and protocols over time, which underpin all his work and teaching. He brings the perspective and experience of a finance professional to assist others in gaining the skill and tools needed to gain the most out of an application that was originally invented by accountants!

Of course, the principals apply equally to those models built for non-financial applications.

Common Issues with Spreadsheet Models – do you recognise any of these?

• The workings of the model are often only known by the person who built it. Therefore, in their absence work can be held up as others are too worried about “breaking” the model and therefore leave it alone. All consequential work is either held up or done in alternative, inefficient way.
• Errors are common as data entry occurs in many different places and some areas are easily missed.
• Different users unwittingly type over formulae, resulting in errors and / or rework.
• There is a lot of re-keying of data as users don’t know how to write formulae to arrive at the answers for you.
• Routine tasks are repeated where a macro linked to a single button can do the work for you.
• People saying “I don’t want to use spreadsheets because they are too hard”.

Our Rules for Overcoming these Issues & Many More

• Data entry / import areas are limited to one section of the model.
• Warning messages are built-in to tell the user of erroneous or missing data.
• Colour-coding (changing if necessary) to highlight areas of the model.
• Built-in logic tests to alert the user to problems with data.
• Using formulae & macros at every opportunity to avoid unnecessary data (re)-entry and therefore reduce the possibility of errors.
• The use of format controls, such as drop-down lists, option buttons, and many more such features, to make data manipulation as easy as possible.
• Using protection & passwords to prevent unauthorised access to or manipulation of the model.
• Detailed, easy-to-follow instructions on how to use the model, such that even beginner Excel users are able to use the model effectively.

Remember, spreadsheets are not designed to be used as data entry tools, so why not have us:

• Simplify every aspect of your existing models, or build replacement ones for you.
• Teach you how to do it yourself using a customised training course based upon your requirements.
• Learn financial modelling tools and techniques to save you time and make complex model building simple by doing one of our customised courses.

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