Excel-lent Mistakes: A Hall of Shame

This Spreadsheet Could Ruin Your Life (And Definitely Your Bonus)
You think it’s just Excel—until it’s not. In this episode of Overleveraged, Overconfident, we unpack five real-world spreadsheet fails that triggered $24 million losses, $6 billion meltdowns, government investigations, and even global austerity policies. From Barclays hiding rows in a bankruptcy deal to Fannie Mae's $1.2 billion “oops,” and JP Morgan’s $6B model built by one guy in London with a PhD and no backup plan, it’s a masterclass in how bad inputs = career-ending outputs. If you've ever copy-pasted a formula and prayed no one noticed…this one's for you.

Come for the Excel horror stories, stay for the schadenfreude.

• Sources

  https://www.theregister.com/2003/06/19/excel_snafu_costs_firm_24m/

  https://www.computerworld.com/article/1561181/excel-error-leaves-barclays-with-more-lehman-assets-than-it-bargained-for.html

  https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/19135/excel-error-leaves-barclays-with-unwanted-lehman-assets

  https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/excel_error_by_a_cleary_gottlieb_associate_alters_lehman_asset_deal1

  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/human-error-costs-transalta-24-million-on-contract-bids/article18285651/

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh-TQHYHQ0I&list=PLnDxX8qeaSX2hXvvB96elmrwegcUj6fiO&index=30

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf9x-zUzchs&list=PLnDxX8qeaSX2hXvvB96elmrwegcUj6fiO&index=28

  https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/business/how-boaz-weinstein-and-hedge-funds-outsmarted-jpmorgan.html

  https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/quicktake/the-london-whale

  https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22223190