Why don't companies report with real spreadsheets?
Almost all companies provide financial reports with tables of values. They don't really report with a spreadsheet, i.e., one with all the formulas,
Samples of financial reports in "Excel" without any formulas:
http://www.citigroup.com/citi/investor/qer.htm
First quarter, 2017, "Excel" report:
http://www.citigroup.com/citi/investor/data/qer117s.xls?ieNocache=454
It is so much harder to read a table of values. If you wonder whether a value is a summation of other values, you will have a hard time confirming that. If a formula is there, you just need to click on that cell to get your answer.
With real spreadsheets, we can trace precedents and trace dependents to understand the spreadsheets much more easier.
So why are most companies not reporting with real spreadsheets with all the original formulas?
Samples of financial reports in "Excel" without any formulas:
http://www.citigroup.com/citi/investor/qer.htm
First quarter, 2017, "Excel" report:
http://www.citigroup.com/citi/investor/data/qer117s.xls?ieNocache=454
It is so much harder to read a table of values. If you wonder whether a value is a summation of other values, you will have a hard time confirming that. If a formula is there, you just need to click on that cell to get your answer.
With real spreadsheets, we can trace precedents and trace dependents to understand the spreadsheets much more easier.
So why are most companies not reporting with real spreadsheets with all the original formulas?
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