Teaching spreadsheet development using peer audit and self-audit methods for reducing error

Abstract: Recent research has highlighted the high incidence of errors in spreadsheet models used in industry. In an attempt to reduce the incidence of such errors, a teaching approach has been devised which aids students to reduce their likelihood of making common errors during development. The approach comprises of spreadsheet checking methods based on the commonly accepted educational paradigms of peer assessment and self-assessment. However, these paradigms are here based upon practical techniques commonly used by the internal audit function such as peer audit and control and risk self-assessment. The result of this symbiosis between educational assessment and professional audit is a method that educates students in a set of structured, transferable skills for spreadsheet error-checking which are useful for increasing error-awareness in the classroom and for reducing business risk in the workplace.