We are pleased to announce that the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has recognised FinRobot’s Base, TopLine, Case Builder and Manufacturing Models as being compliant with ICAEW’s Twenty Principles for Good Spreadsheet Practice.
We – and many fellow modellers – strongly believe any model should comply with best modelling principles. However, ask around or google to find all sorts of things called ‘best practice’. Many popular sources would have opposite views on what best practice compliant model is. Some would refer to standards and best practices but never spell out what they are.
On our part, we decided against adding yet another voice to this crowded debate and searched far and wide for something we can comfortably agree with. Detailed multipage standards were ruled out as too arbitrary and not necessarily user friendly. And then we came across the Good Spreadsheet Principles’ recognition scheme administered by the ICAEW.
The purpose of these Principles is to help reduce the amount of time wasted and the number of errors caused by businesses (including accountancy practices) as a consequence of the way they and their employees use spreadsheets.
We particularly liked the fact that every principle makes perfect sense and is not too onerous to implement. As a package, the 20 Principles of ICAEW serve as transparent and helpful guidelines for organizations wishing to achieve Good Spreadsheet Principles status.
FinRobot applied for recognition and received some very helpful feedback from ICAEW’s experts. Following an upgrade, ICAEW expert panel signed off on our Core Models as being compliant with the Twenty Principles for Good Spreadsheet Practice. The recognition gives us the right to feature ICAEW logo next to Base, TopLine, Case Builder and Manufacturing Models as published here.
We are extremely proud to be early adopters of the Principles. So far, FinRobot is one of the only two products that have achieved recognition by ICAEW. We believe this is the right step in the right direction and that more organisations should join the scheme. Experience of both end users and modellers shall improve.
Wishing best to all,
FinRobot Development
You can read more about the Twenty Principles and the ICAEW recognition procedure here.