Why do banks and companies unlink the Excel sheet when they send financials across?

Hey guys,

This might be a simple question, but what is the reason that banks and companies unlink the formulas in excel and just paste values before sending across excel sheets to clients etc.?

Thanks,

5 Comments
 
"Dacawin"

If I had to guess, it could be because the client might break the model if they don't understand it. Or also because banks believe that the Excel formulas are their proprietary information. I'm probably wrong though.

Pretty much this. If you've ever been sent any model (or have looked at some old models), you'll notice links might refer to " 'C:\User\Folder[Filename.xlsx]TabName'!A1' " If you send a model with that link, it'll REF out (since that file doesn't exist on their computer).

 

Either because model links to original source files in separate files that tends to #REF out when you send to different people via email so they just paste values everything, and/or it's harder to find a bust in the model when it's all values.

 

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