Affordable Tool to Inventory Spreadsheets for SOX Compliance Audits

(I-Newswire) January 4, 2005 - ScanXLS collects data for fundamental questions that auditors and CIOs raise in their Sarbox project:

- What spreadsheets do we have where on the network?
- Who is the responsible owner/user/developer?
- How big are they, how complex, have they errors?
- What dependencies/links exist between them?
- Has a spreadsheet changed from an authorized/validated version?

Jane Starrett, Vice President and Controller of Thornburg Mortgage, Inc. reported that "There is quite a bit of concern out there about spreadsheet use and controls in relation to the internal control audits that have been mandated by Section 404 of Sarbanes Oxley. SCANXLS has been very helpful in this effort."

SCANXLS scans any given directory and below and obtains a list of all the .XLS files. It reports for each spreadsheet its file properties, attributes, the presence of unusual features or settings that may represent a risk or are prone to human error, summary statistics on Excel's error checking, a list of other workbooks that it depends on through links, and a complexity metric score on how 'problematic' it might be. SCANXLS can also compare two workbooks to check whether their formulas and/or values are identical.

Patrick O'Beirne, CEO of Systems Modelling, points out that "Until now, auditors regarded end-user computing as outside their scope. Yet there are growing reports of expensive mistakes from uncontrolled spreadsheets such as those listed at http://www.eusprig.org/stories.htm. Now, information systems developed by users are recognised as important enough to be mission-critical. The auditor has a daunting task assessing a sprawling network of spreadsheet files. So we created SCANXLS as a simple, affordable workbook to document the extent of spreadsheet usage and to help identify the critical spreadsheets and their owners. Where a client realises that a more intensive review is appropriate, we can assist them to choose and use a forensic spreadsheet auditing tool. We can also provide training in best practices in spreadsheet development in order to reduce the incidence of errors."

ScanXLS fills the gap in the market left by most spreadsheet auditing tools that test only one spreadsheet at a time. A demonstration version is available that shows selected results. For project managers who would prefer to distribute ScanXLS to lead users to do the scanning themselves, site licenses are available at steep discounts.

Rhett Staehling, Senior IT Auditor of metroPCS, comments "The information gathered from the tool is very helpful . It has proven very useful already."

To order, or to read more details on the inventory data collected, visit
http://www.sysmod.com/scanxls.htm

Corporate Information
Systems Modelling Ltd. provides consultancy in spreadsheet training, testing, model review, and auditing, software quality engineering, and software validation.

Patrick O'Beirne B.Sc. M.A. FICS is a software quality consultant, author, and international speaker. He is currently working on a book of Spreadsheet Best Practice Skills to be published in 2005.

He is the current chair of the European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group, a director of the Informatics Development Institute, a Fellow of the Irish Computer Society, and an Expert Advisor to the European Commission.

###

Company Contact Information