Dangers of using spreadsheets for managing Parish, Town and Community Council finances
Did you know 88% of spreadsheets have errors? That is a scary number, but this was the result of study by MarketWatch. Human error is not the only danger lurking in your Parish and Town Council accounts. Spreadsheets are prone to Fraud, as its very easy for opportunistic and unscrupulous Clerks or RFOs to manipulate finances for personal gain. Spreadsheets are very portable, easy to copy and share via email when you are colloborating with colleages. This is a bad thing. We understand why local councils use spreadsheets. They are "cheap and easy", but the above dangers makes it very hard to adhere to regulatory compliance.
