With the amount of financial info you have to track, a spreadsheet is one of your most potent tools. But the more important (and complicated) a spreadsheet is, the more likely it is to have one of these major flaws. The good news: They’re all fixable. And those fixes can help you work more efficiently in the long run. Here’s what to look out for:

1. Hidden errors. No matter how well — or often — you check, a big complicated spreadsheet is bound to have some errors sneak in over time. And it’ll happen twice as fast if it’s a worksheet that multiple people have access to.  The fix: Periodically use one of the many programs that searches spreadsheets for cells that have missing formulas, broken links, references to empty cells, etc.
2. Too many chefs stirring the pot. There may be good reason for a dozen people to have access to see a spreadsheet — but chances are they don’t all need access to input data. Whenever possible, use Excel’s existing features (such as password-protection) to limit access to “read-only” for key files that need to be shared among many people.
3. Not knowing who did what. Even if access to input data into the worksheet is limited to only two trusted people, there may be times when it’s not clear which version of the spreadsheet is the last one. Make sure you have a system in place to track who made what changes and when. (For larger departments, software is available to handle this. For smaller companies, you may be able to get by with a solid naming/”save as” system.)

Tags: A/P, Accounting, Best practices, Communication, Internal controls, Payroll, Resource