Mitigating Spreadsheet Model Risk with Python Open Source Infrastructure
This work provides spreadsheet modelling professionals with tools to mitigate model risk, though it is incremental as it applies existing software engineering concepts to spreadsheets.
The paper addresses the high error rate in spreadsheet models by developing reproducible audit tools using Python open source packages, enabling stakeholders to create defined model 'oracles' for testing and auditing spreadsheet calculations.
Across an aggregation of EuSpRIG presentation papers, two maxims hold true: spreadsheets models are akin to software, yet spreadsheet developers are not software engineers. As such, the lack of traditional software engineering tools and protocols invites a higher rate of error in the end result. This paper lays ground work for spreadsheet modelling professionals to develop reproducible audit tools using freely available, open source packages built with the Python programming language, enabling stakeholders to develop clearly defined model "oracles" with which to test and audit spreadsheet calculations against.