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11-22-2003, 01:21 AM
|  | Scanning maniac | | Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Ontari-ari-ari-o
Posts: 534
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As my home office co-worker can attest, I was literally dancing around my desk with glee this afternoon.
Why?
I found a mistake. I live with numbers, day in and day out. They are my friends. (Not close friends, though. Numbers are not forgiving enough). Anyway, this one general ledger expense account has been bothering me for months now. It's just a little too high. The explanations for why it's high are all very reasonable, but it still bugged me. Today, after spending a few hours developing a report so I could get at the information and another solid hour checking the formulas underlying a reported margin figure, I solved it. A formula to determine cost of goods sold subtracted something where it should have added it. A simple sign-reversal error.
Solving this will save the company quite a bit of money over the next year. Probably about 5 times my salary.
The realization that the sign was reversed on a part of this formula came to me suddenly, and I felt like Will Graham in Thomas Harris' "Red Dragon", when he finally discovered the link between the two families and knew where the killer worked. Hence the dancing around my desk.
Usually, people in my position analyse stuff that's already happened, (the old (rather gruesome) joke about accountants is "Accountants are like the guys in the medieval era, who used to go around the battlefield, after the battle was lost, bayoneting the wounded"), watching from the sidelines while someone else grinds out touchdowns, so it's nice to know that every once in a while, I can point to something, and say "See that? I did that. That happened because of me."  |
11-22-2003, 01:40 AM
|  | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
Posts: 16,716
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
Cool! |
11-22-2003, 08:52 AM
|  | In Spanish, I'm Marijuana | | Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lawn-Guy-Land, NY
Posts: 28,768
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
__________________
MJ
It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.~ Bono |
11-22-2003, 09:05 AM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Upstate New York
Posts: 5,579
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
Fantastic!
__________________ ~Tina
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"Even here, in Hillbilly Hell, we have standards." Sally from Cars
Casually Christina (blog) |
11-22-2003, 10:01 AM
|  | Rockin The Suburbs | | Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 8,759
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
That is outstanding. I know that our company needs to do more peer review on issues like this. I have identified three people in our Finance group who I insist check anything my managers or directors publish. The error rate is probably 5%. It is simply too easy for non-analysts to make an error when playing in Excel.
Congrats to you! |
11-22-2003, 11:37 AM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Iowa USA
Posts: 4,257
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
That is awesome. It is so easy to have something like a sign misplaced that makes the whole thing wrong, and it is so easy for many people to overlook it, not even thinking twice that it is an error!
Kudos! 
__________________ Support me as I Walk for a Cure for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). You can donate here! JDRF Donation Page Kim J Patience is the companion of wisdom. -Saint Augustine
Kim's links |
11-22-2003, 11:46 AM
| | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Colorado
Posts: 15,123
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
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11-22-2003, 05:37 PM
|  | Schmoopy Woopy | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: A stone's throw from Geezerville, FLA
Posts: 5,289
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
Exceptionally cool Peter! Good eye!
__________________
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11-22-2003, 06:16 PM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Central California
Posts: 6,236
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
Great work!
__________________
Think, think, think... |
11-22-2003, 09:56 PM
|  | Premium Member | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: New York, NY, USA
Posts: 10,670
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
Yup. Love that feeling. |
11-24-2003, 05:24 AM
|  | Registered Member | | Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 5,885
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
Accountants rule the world. 
Seriously, though, I love that feeling when you look at something and you just KNOW, somehow, that something is wrong with it... and then you start digging, and, lo and behold, THERE IT IS. And I'm so lucky to have my food and beverage department, who help give me that feeling almost every night...
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"Wow, sometimes violence is the OPPOSITE of helpful" ~~ Pete Abrams |
11-27-2003, 01:25 PM
|  | Mr. Nice Man | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: New York, NY, USA
Posts: 2,477
| | Re: Yay! I found a mistake! | |
Is it any wonder why everyone idolizes accountants?
Great work!
Rich | |
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