Model review with
Excel Check.

Excel Check is a service for finance directors, managers and analysts who want to make sure their spreadsheet model is working correctly.

Eliminate errors in your spreadsheet to rely on it to make important decisions.

Gain reassurance on your spreadsheet model without an expensive assurance policy.

See Excel Check FAQ for more information

The issues

Spreadsheet models with errors cannot be relied upon to make important decisions.

Excel spreadsheet models can suffer from a number of problems, including:

• calculations with errors

• calculations that are irrelevant to the core results, thus creating unnecessary noise

• less than optimal calculations that may slow the model down or make it harder to use

The model audit services from the accountancy firms can be very expensive due mostly to the cost of the insurance policy attached to the transmittal letter.

The solution

Excel Check provides the reassurance you need to rely on your spreadsheet model without the expense of an insurance policy. Our service is fast, carried out by experienced model auditors and will provide you with a replacement model.

Our approach

Excel Check uses a parallel modelling technique to check your speadsheet - also known as ‘re-perfomance modelling’.  This means we will build a new model and compare it to the original, to understand how your model works.

Unlike the alternative cell-by-cell method, our parallel modelling technique is more creative and enjoyable – this is important as it leads to greater accuracy.

A distinguishing feature of Excel Check is that whilst checking the accuracy of your current model, we produce a alternative parallel model which can easily replace the original if you wish.

The parallel model can have advantages over the original because it was conceived with specific business objectives in mind, using the advantage of hindsight to sidestep any unnecessary complications.

To find out more about model audit and the details of how ExcelCheck works, visit our Excel Check FAQ page.

The deliverables

Excel Check service provides the model managers with valuable knowledge in two forms; a report and a model.

So, firstly a report, with:

• a list of actual errors in the model

• a list of potential errors in the model

• the impact on core results of each of these actual and potential errors

• a report with best-practice advice for specific changes in the model

And secondly, the parallel Excel model which is a fully working, best-practice model to replace the original, built by Lazuli, and focusing only on the core results you specify.

The process

Once we have agreed the fixed fees for the work* our review starts.

We keep you updated on actual and potential errors during our investigation and make changes to your model as required. We will inform you by whatever method you are most comfortable with.

At the close we will provide you with a report, your corrected model and the new, parallel model.

* We are happy to sign a confidentiality agreement before receiving the model.

Credentials

Lazuli Solutions has direct experience of managing and carrying out model audit both with the cell-by-cell and re-performance techniques.

Dominic Robertson ran the Arthur Andersen model audit team in London, managing nineteen full transaction model audits.

For Lazuli Solutions, Excel Check has been used across a number of diverse industries including:

• media financing – large feature film financing models

• railway electrification – medium term strategic planning model

• pharmaceutical research and manufacturing – full planning and monthly reporting model

• property portfolio maintenance – large resource allocation and pricing model

• affordable homes construction – charity property development model

• academic research for the charity sector – data analysis model

• healthcare - long term hospital operating model

• tertiary education – long term operating model

• regional administration – long term property operating model

Guarantee

The key guarantee Excel Check provides is a parallel model with the same results as the original.

Furthermore, all our model auditors and project managers are highly experienced and we are committed to helping our clients uncover the core results that need to be checked.

Long term, we are available for questions on the model review, because we want the model to work successfully for our clients.

Finally, included in the price of the model review are two ongoing free mini review sessions* within the first year after delivery.

*You send us the model and we will carry out a reduced integrity review and a high-level commercial review, repair any errors we find, and report back to you.

Free quote service

We don’t charge for the first meeting and subsequent conversations that allow us to understand the scope of work and produce a quote.

Excel Check is charged on an hourly basis, except it can be discounted because of the clear specification.

It depends on the size of your spreadsheet and the amount of repetition/duplication – we have the experience and software to work that out.

It can take from a few hours to longer, depending on some very explainable technical factors – like duplication, the number of original formulae and the complexity of the original formulae.

Use the form below to get in touch or visit Excel Check FAQ for more in-depth questions and answers.