Spreadsheets create an illusion of orderliness, accuracy, and integrity. The tidy rows and columns of data, instant calculations, eerily invisible updating, and other features of these ubiquitous instruments contribute to this soothing impression.
At the same time, faulty spreadsheets and poor spreadsheet practices have been implicated in a wide variety of business and financial problems.
- An incorrect number in one cell throws off future revenue estimates, wreaking stock market havoc.