Few things are worse than getting your name in the papers for the wrong reasons, and a financial or regulatory error due to a spreadsheet miscalculation can quickly damage reputations. In fact, reputational risk often impacts the market cap of publicly traded companies more dramatically than the revenue impact. While the opinions of investors, clients and the general public can be negatively impacted by events outside our control, spreadsheet risk can be mitigated. At last, this is one area of reputational risk that can be well-managed.
Spreadsheets are used in most businesses for calculations and analysis, but can quickly become a liability as the functions outgrow their intended purpose. Manual entry as well as cut and paste can corrupt your data, data can arrive invalidated from another department, and even typos can cause errors. Any one of these factors can make your reports that rely on databases a potential problem in the making. In the age of digitization, when businesses are expected to use technology to get their calculations right from the start, these sorts of errors can lead counterparties to think that a firm does not have its act together. Efficient functionality with back and middle office calculations may not help you win clients, but it can certainly cost you many.
Reputational risk can be avoided by getting off of spreadsheets in favor of rules-based calculation engines that offer consistent, repeatable and flexible processes. These systems bring transparency across the organization and to external regulators. A rules-based engine that starts with clear data inputs and analytics is easy to audit, and the opposite of a spreadsheet that relies on multiple inputs and user created macros.
Originally designed to help banks and hedge funds calculate margin and risk exposures, Syncova is now being utilized by a wide variety of financial institutions for other repeatable processes. At its core is a powerful and configurable calculation engine with advanced reporting capabilities. The platform contains a rich and fully extensible data model, and all data related to every calculation is stored, providing a deep source of data for operational and management reporting. Customized reports to meet specific requirements can be easily created and added to the standard report suite. Syncova can unify all product lines onto a single platform that can integrate with third-party systems, including via CSV file and web services, along with existing architectures.
Your firm’s reputation is more valuable than gold. Take the time and energy to reduce your reputational risk exposure by getting off of spreadsheets and on to Syncova. Request a demo.