C-level executives and senior managers working in financial services in the UK have dangerously poor attitudes to business-critical data managed in spreadsheets and similar databases.
This is the key finding of research conducted by data management company ClusterSeven among 253 C-level executives and senior managers at financial services companies in the UK.
Half of C-level executives say that either usage controls do not exist or there are poorly applied manual processes over the use of spreadsheets at their firms. Meanwhile, 89% admit that they rely on manual oversight to maintain data integrity, with just one in 10 saying there is an automated control policy that allows them to fully understand changes between different versions of spreadsheets and to see a clear audit trail for data.
One in five C-level executives say that they use spreadsheets to manage values of over £1bn, with the average from all respondents standing at £350m. Over nine out of 10 (93%) use spreadsheets as much as, or more than, any other applications, for managing financial data.
ClusterSeven said the findings were surprising given that 55% of C-level executives rate spreadsheet risk – the risk of serious financial/reputational loss from poor management of corporate spreadsheets and databases – as either ‘very serious’ or ‘serious’, while around one in seven (15%) admit that their firm has suffered a significant data breach.
Sally Percy is editor of The Treasurer