Excel junkies in the Dark Ages AccMan

I don’t know if it is me or whether the class of reader attracted to AccountingWeb are constitutionally incapable of taking off the blinkers but this post by John Stokdyk sums up all that is wrong in the muddle headed views of Excel junkies. Example:

O’Bierne (aka Excel author and EuSpRIG stawart sysmod) described the typical scenario that faces many accountants: every month they have to download data from a variety of databases (accounts, sales and so on); they then spend days copying, pasting, sorting, filtering and manually re-classifying data to get it into the shape they want. Then someone will want to see a different view, so for a set of accounts structured in 4-4-5 periods, one department might want to see reports by calendar month, while another wants 13 four-weekly periods. Or one consumer may want an analysis based around different groupings than the main chart of accounts.

There are data query tools such as the popular Crystal Reports, but in O’Beirne’s view “that just gets the data”. What working accountants need is something to automate the slicing and dicing. How to people cope in the field, he wondered.

As might be expected, the question attracted numerous suppliers of Excel reporting tools and Add-ins

I’m not picking on Patrick O’Bierne in particular. He is a well meaning fellow. I certainly think John’s post title is misleading: Management reporting: Is there an alternative to Excel? Nothing in the article pointed to an alternative that is independent of Microsoft spreadsheet based solutions. The problem is that the moment Excel gets mentioned, it’s almost like the ONLY reality IS Excel. It IS NOT. Check a few facts:

Most of the accounting systems mentioned in the article were never designed with reporting or analysis in mind. That’s a fundamental design flaw.
For many people, Excel was the only way to get something resembling either a P&L account for a very long time. It is therefore no surprise that they believe Excel is the only way to go. It is not an excuse for failing to consider alternatives.
Designing reporting and analysis tools is not trivial. So why should anyone think that getting it right in Excel is going to be easy or for that matter useful?
The advent of SaaS systems has changed the game. To some extent. Current solutions offer at least some level of analysis that will provide business owners with key data. There is a long way to go but the SaaS vendors know they have to get their act together because the data they hold is incredibly useful.

All of which means professionals should at least be hunting down alternatives. That should be a matter of professional courtesy to the needs of clients. Unfortunately, for as long as professionals maintain their unproductive and downright dangerous addiction to Excel, then little will change.

In recent times I’ve come across Indicee which offers an online reporting and analysis tool. They have an upcoming event: Business Intelligence (BI) 101 for Accountants – Free Live Webcast – which should answer some professional concerns. It is early, it won’t have everything professionals might want but it gets them away from the interminable nightmare of building spreadsheet models that require maintenance, regression testing, validation, documentation and sense testing. Who pays for all that? Indicee is a call to the future. Check it out with an open mind. Now tell me. What’s not to understand here?