This is a note for Future John: New Zealand’s $16 Billion Public Health System Runs on a Single Excel Sheet.

From the report:

Notably, one major issue was through a significant reliance on the use of an Excel file to manage the consolidated financials of the organisation. This spreadsheet was the primary data file used by HNZ to manage its financial performance. It consolidated files from each district into a single spreadsheet, and key reports, such as the monthly finance report, were produced from it. The use of an Excel spreadsheet file to track and report financial performance for a $28bn expenditure organisation raises significant concerns, particularly when other more appropriate systems are present on the IT landscape.

This Excel file is flawed in that:

• Financial information was often ‘hard-coded,’ making it difficult to trace to the source or have updated data flow through.
• Errors such as incorrectly releasing accruals or double-up releases were not picked up until following periods.
• Changes to prior periods and FTE errors in district financial reporting Excel submissions, would not flow through to consolidated file.
• The spreadsheet can be easy to manipulate information as there is limited tracking to source information where information is not flowing directly from accounting systems.
• It is highly prone to human error, such as accidental typing of a number or omission of a zero.

…

The cumbersome process of collecting data also meant monthly financial reporting usually took 12-15 days to consolidate and 5 days to analyse. Adding to that the time associated with the creation of the monthly finance reports and circulation of these to the Board, there was an inevitable challenge of obtaining real-time financial information from one source of truth.