Spreadsheet Errors, Mistakes and Horror Stories by Year

-1800

Babylonian Educator Makes a Data Entry Mistake in an Answer Key Table

In what constitutes the known oldest spreadsheet bluder, a Babylonian Educator enters incorrect data in answer key table for trigonometry exercies.

2005

Westpac releases profit numbers prematurely in a spreadsheet

Incorrectly releasing a spreadsheet template instead of offical data leads to stopping trading of shares of Australia's oldest bank.

Kodak Spreadsheet Mistake Causes Incorrect Accrual, Restating Loss

Faulty spreadsheet leads to incorrect calculation of $9 Million severance pay, leading to incorrect losses report.

2006

Columbia Housing Authority Alleges Overpayment for Section 8

An unspecified Excel spreadsheet error leads to incorrect 'over-housing' of tenants and larger than appropriate vouchers issued to landlords.

2011

Mouchel Blames £4.3m of £8.6m Writedown on a Spreadsheet Bug

A spreadsheet error is blamed for incorrect calculation of pension fund deficit, doubling losses a day before profit warning.

2012

London Olympics Oversold Tickets Due to a Spreadsheet Mishap

Lack of spreadsheet input validation and incorrect input lead to over-selling of seats for 2012 London Olympics swimming competitions.

2016

Boeing Discloses Personal Information Through Hidden Spreadsheet Cells

Boeing employee mistakenly emails spreadsheet full of employee personal data to his spouse, but risk of harm is declared to be low.

2017

Eskom Mine Inflates Fine by R1.5bn Due to Spreadsheet Error

Error in a spreadsheet leads to underestimation of coal quality and overestimation of amount of fine to be paid.

2019

England's PHE Undercounts COVID Cases Due to Import to Excel Bug

Usage of Excel as a database, old XLS format and lack of error handling leads to temporary undercounting of COVID cases.

2021

Crypto.com Refunds the Amount of $10.5 Million Instead of Just $100

Excel data entry error and lack of validation rules leads to couple splurging on 4 houses, gifts, vehicles and more, with $4M to spare.

2022

The Luxembourg Ministry of Housing Publishes Incorrect Spreadsheet

As part of a reform of property taxes the ministry published an Excel spreadsheet to assist rent calculation. The initial version contained a formula error.