It’s one of the most common challenges in the classroom: “Andrew – what you are teaching us is all very well for new models. But I work with models that have not been built to a standard. What should I do with them?”
Nobody likes my answer – which is to rebuild the model using a modelling standard.
So I was pleased when I got this feedback from a recent course delegate who works for a real estate investment company:
“I just wanted to let you know that last week I was asked to review a business model received from an external party. It was not that good, so I decided to remodel the model using the FAST rules we learnt during our course, in the Excel template provided. And I must say: my colleagues and I were quite surprised with the result. It gave a clear and easy-to-understand model with an accurate result.
“We are definitely going further with this in the future I think.”
And it’s not only this company that is going further with standardised models. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales is launching its Twenty Principles for Good Spreadsheet Practice on June 17th 2014.
High on the list of principles is: adopt a standard – and stick to it.
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