Only one in five actuaries and insurance finance professionals are fully confident of their firms data control processes and spreadsheet supervision, according to research from ClusterSeven.
Only one in five actuaries and insurance finance professionals are fully confident of their firm's data control processes and spreadsheet supervision, according to research from ClusterSeven.
Two in five respondents (40%) to the data management software provider's survey stated that corporate controls around spreadsheet access could be improved and 13% warned they are simply not confident at all about the oversight process behind spreadsheets.
According to the firm, only 28% say that there is full and sufficient documentation in place for others to manage their spreadsheets in case of their absence.
Over half (53%) believe that a qualified actuary or similar specialist would have to rely on their skills and experience as the documentation process is not sufficient. Most critically, 19% warned that a qualified actuary would probably have to rebuild spreadsheets given a lack of basic continuity protocols.
ClusterSeven said that the study highlights how exposed modern financial institutions have become to data risks as demands placed on their spreadsheet-based systems have expanded.
In particular, the processes currently in place to protect and support best-practice spreadsheet management remain far from watertight. Asked how many people have the ability to make changes to spreadsheets or those that feed data into them, nearly half (46%) of respondents to the survey said that between four and 10+ people could change their critical spreadsheets. Some 12% did not know how many people in their organisation have access to business-critical spreadsheets.
The survey found that 49% of respondents use spreadsheets more than any other software application for modelling, data management and reporting activities, including 9% that solely use spreadsheets for these activities.
Only 16% of respondents said they either did not use spreadsheets at all, or less than other applications.
Ralph Baxter, CEO of ClusterSeven, said: "Actuaries hold the keys to excellence in data management and the spreadsheets that underpin data processes. The survey indicated that people had real concerns about the inability of other qualified individuals to understand their company's spreadsheets and the lack of standardisation of data management."
In brief
* Two in five respondents (40%) stated that corporate controls around spreadsheet access could be improved
* Over one in ten (13%) warned they are simply not confident at all about the oversight process behind spreadsheets.
* Over half (53%) believe that a qualified actuary or similar specialist would have to rely on their skills and experience as the documentation process is not sufficient
* One in five respondents rated spreadsheet risk very serious while a further 31% put it as fairly serious