09-10 Contents: Fraud, Security, XLTest 1.09 released
ISSN 1649-2374 This issue online at http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0910.htm [Previous] [Index] [Next]
| Systems Modelling Ltd.: Managing reality in Information Systems - strategies for success | |
IN THIS ISSUE |
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| 1) Risk Fraud check list "What am I supposed to do with this security prompt?" |
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| 2) Spreadsheets Guidelines for Spreadsheet Development Excel User Conference UK Oct 7,8 |
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| 3)
XLTEST Spreadsheet Checking Add-In Version 1.09 released |
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| 5 Web links in this newsletter |
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| About this newsletter and Archives Disclaimer Subscribe and Unsubscribe information |
This month, XLTest 1.09 is released! It assists Excel
users and developers to check the quality of their work.
Patrick O'Beirne
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http://www.acfe.com/newsletters/fraudinfo.asp?copy=sponsored-09-09-09
Seven Steps to Tackle Fraud Using Data Analytics
Dustin Lewis, CISA, Senior Technical Consultant, ACL Services Ltd.
With
data analysis, you can identify and monitor business risks to ensure
you are auditing today's risks, not yesterday's. Consider these:
Revenue by location,
division or product line
Revenue backlogs - by
value and age
Personnel changes in key
positions (legal, controller, R&D)
Volume of manual JEs or
credit notes
Aging A/R balances or
Inventory levels
Vendor management (#
vendors, volume of transactions)
PCard vs. PO procurement
Average days for
customer payment
http://www.enisa.europa.eu/publications/eqr/
The
latest edition of ENISA Quarterly Review, 3rd Quarter 2009, is
available online. It includes an article "AWARENESS AND END-USER
ISSUES; End-user Security: Misused and Misunderstood?". The author is
Prof. Steven Furnell who leads the Centre for Security, Communications
& Network Research at the University of Plymouth, UK.
He says
that "users are often asked to accept the existence of threats that
they cannot see and to protect against risks that they do not really
understand. ... evidence suggests that users are frequently
ill-equipped to deal with security events, particularly when handling
them requires a decision to be made. In one study, almost 90
system-initiated events were recorded and in 16% of cases users
reported being ‘totally unclear’ on what had happened and/or what they
were supposed to do, with a further 23% reporting that the event was
‘mostly unclear’. From almost 30 user-initiated events, the situation
was even worse, with 31% ‘totally unclear’ and 21% ‘mostly clear’, and
users being able to complete their intended action in only 62% of
cases. A University of Plymouth survey of 259 home-users
reported
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Stephen Aldridge of Numeritas posted to the LinkedIn
group a
set of guidelines, cutely entitled SCILS to rhyme with
"skills".
http://www.numeritas.co.uk/files/SCILS_whitepaper.pdf
"Trying
to apply a set of principles for any spreadsheet use is difficult,
given the diversity of use, however for financial modelling, we have
established a set of guiding principles to keep things orderly and
minimise error." These are:
http://excelusergroup.org/blogs/nickhodge/archive/2009/10/02/excel-user-conference-next-week.aspx
Bob,
Charles, Simon, Andy, Roger and Nick are presenting another free series
of courses at Microsoft’s Office in Cardinal Place, London for 2 days
on October 7th/8th. "This is a repeat of the hugely oversubscribed
event in April where we had over 120 reserves who places couldn’t be
found for. So far we have around 100 attending so places left for
around another 20 on either or both days. If you fancy coming along to
this great FREE event (except accommodation and evening entertainment)
then drop a line to bookings at excelusergroup dot org. "
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XLTest helps you to test the integrity of your spreadsheets far more quickly than tedious cell-by-cell inspection.
Buy XLTest for Excel 2003 via Paypal. This also works in the Add-In tab of Excel 2007
If you own the book "Spreadsheet Check and Control" you get back the cost of the book - save 30 euro! Simply enter into the discount code box below the first word on the top left of page 131.
If you own the spreadsheet inventory/assessment workbook ScanXLS you can save 60 euro! Simply enter into the discount code box below your license number.
Sorry, there is no combined discount! This offer is available for only a limited period.
To learn more, download the 19-page set of screenshots (1MB PDF) showing you what it does.
XLTest will be sent by email in a zip file with documentation and sample workbooks. If your email system blocks zip files, please contact us to agree an alternative method of delivery.
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Simply send your comments to FEEDBACK (at) SYSMOD (dot) COM
Thank you! Patrick O'Beirne, Editor
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