Health New Zealand (HNZ)

History

2025: Managing New Zealand's entire health system with just one Excel spreadsheet

In mid-March 2025, it became known that the entire public health system of New Zealand is managed by one Excel spreadsheet. This file is used as the primary data source for financial monitoring and planning.

New Zealand's public health system is managed by Health New Zealand (HNZ). This structure was formed in 2022 to replace 20 district health boards. The main task of the HNZ is to get rid of bureaucracy and improve the efficiency of spending. HNZ's budget is about $16 billion.

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Фото: Freepik

However, as the Deloitte study showed, the HNZ organization actually lost "control of the most important levers that affect financial results," which led to "an inflation of the budget and an inability to respond to overspending." The problem lies in the only Excel spreadsheet that acts as the main source of financial data and is used to maintain almost all transactions, from journal entries to business-critical reporting and analytics.

The use of one Excel spreadsheet is said to have caused "glaring errors," the lack of necessary information, and the inability to track data sources. As a result, even a few keystrokes can lead to incorrect balance display and loss of huge sums of money. Consolidation of monthly financial statements takes up to 15 days, which is unacceptable for an organization of this scale.

The use of an Excel spreadsheet file to track and report on the financial results of an organization with expenses of $16 billion raises serious concerns, especially when there are other more suitable systems in the IT landscape, the study said.[1]

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