  The use of uncontrolled financial spreadsheets can expose organizations to
unacceptable business and compliance risks, including errors in the financial
reporting process, spreadsheet misuse and fraud, or even significant
operational errors. These risks have been well documented and thoroughly
researched. With the advent of regulatory mandates such as SOX 404 and FDICIA
in the U.S., and MiFID, Basel II and Combined Code in the UK and Europe,
leading tax and audit firms are now recommending that organizations automate
their internal controls over critical spreadsheets and other end-user computing
applications, including Microsoft Access databases. At a minimum, auditors
mandate version control, change control and access control for operational
spreadsheets, with more advanced controls for critical financial spreadsheets.
This paper summarises the key issues regarding the establishment and
maintenance of control of Business Critical spreadsheets.
