Spreadsheet quality assurance: a literature review

Abstract

Spreadsheets are very common for information processing to support decision making by both professional developers and non-technical end users. Moreover, business intelligence and artificial intelligence are increasingly popular in the industry nowadays, where spreadsheets have been used as, or integrated into, intelligent or expert systems in various application domains. However, it has been repeatedly reported that faults often exist in operational spreadsheets, which could severely compromise the quality of conclusions and decisions based on the spreadsheets. With a view to systematically examining this problem via survey of existing work, we have conducted a comprehensive literature review on the quality issues and related techniques of spreadsheets over a 35.5-year period (from January 1987 to June 2022) for target journals and a 10.5-year period (from January 2012 to June 2022) for target conferences. Among other findings, two major ones are: (a) Spreadsheet quality is best addressed throughout the whole spreadsheet life cycle, rather than just focusing on a few specific stages of the life cycle. (b) Relatively more studies focus on spreadsheet testing and debugging (related to fault detection and removal) when compared with spreadsheet specification, modeling, and design (related to development). As prevention is better than cure, more research should be performed on the early stages of the spreadsheet life cycle. Enlightened by our comprehensive review, we have identified the major research gaps as well as highlighted key research directions for future work in the area.

The Perception of Teachers and Students towards Using Myaccounting to Learn Principles of Accounting in Vocational Colleges, Malaysia

“…Furthermore, the encouraging feedback we received solidifies the positive impact of myAccounting, as predicted by numerous scholars. From the early work of Poon et al (2024) emphasizing increased student engagement and confidence, to Borthick and Schneider (2023); Borthick et al (2017) focus on balancing technological integration with core accounting principles, and finally, the recent explorations of Muchsini et al (2023) into the potential of accounting-specific software design for developing computational thinking skills, myAccounting sits firmly within the existing research landscape, validating its efficacy and highlighting its promising future contributions to the field of accounting education.…”

“…Its flexibility allows teachers to tailor exercises and simulations to specific learning objectives, promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Professor, 2004). Another research suggests that Excel can improve confidence and selfefficacy, as students gain a sense of accomplishment through mastering the software and applying it to real-world scenarios (Poon et al, 2024). Rackliffe and Ragland (2016) point out that Excel can demystify complex formulas and illustrate their practical applications, fostering a more engaging and interactive learning experience.…”