Patrick O'Beirne BSc, MA, FICS is the CEO of Systems Modelling Ltd. He is a senior software consultant, trainer, and speaker with a particular interest in spreadsheet quality training, audit, and model review. He is chair 2004-2005 of the European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group. He is the author of Managing the Euro in Information Systems (Addison Wesley, 1999).
'It is excellent. I am embarrassed when I think of the shortcuts I generally take with spreadsheets and I have often paid the price. I think it will become, and it should be, required reading for all young trainee accountants.' Ciaran Walsh, senior finance specialist, Irish Management Institute. 'It's super. I kept saying to myself, Wow, I didn't know you could do that. A great job.' Ray Panko, University of Hawai'i. 'Spreadsheet Check and Control does what no other book before has attempted to do; provide standards for designing spreadsheets that lend themselves to a logical review by management and internal auditors. Following this author's guide and insight can help your organization minimize spreadsheet errors and facilitate audit review to prevent and detect those errors.' Jim Kaplan, AuditNet.org. 'Patrick O'Beirne's Spreadsheet Check and Control is the kind of serendipitous book that only comes along once in a great while. I thought I knew a lot about Excel, but in the course of teaching me to be Excel-careful, O'Beirne taught me some new tricks and methods that both helped me build better financial models and track down errors.' Simon Benninga, author of Financial Modeling, MIT Press 2000 and Principles of Finance with Excel, Oxford University Press, 2005. 'Save red faces all round by buying, absorbing and passing-on this book, especially if you personally develop spreadsheets or if your organization is subject to Sarbanes Oxley and related regulations. Avoiding even a trivial spreadsheet mistake may well pay for the book. Avoiding a large one may save your career.' Dr. Gary Hinson, independent consultant in information security and computer auditing, editor of security awareness website NoticeBored.com. 'Probably one of the most important spreadsheet books ever written. Your customers and boss will be delighted with the increased usability, accuracy and reliability his techniques encourage. Be aware that the pages are packed with useful and usable advice, so the 200 pages is probably equivalent to 500 pages in many other books.' Simon Murphy, Codematic.net, author of XLAnalyst.