No, comparing the two XML files would be better. My point was that you take the XML generated by Excel as reference, i.e. you assume that Excel will produce correct, valid XML and differences to the Perl XML would mean that the Perl script made an error. I personally trust the Perl XML generator more than Excel. So I would take the Perl XML output as reference if Excel is generating correct XML.

But don't start a Linux/Windows or Perl/MS Office flame war here ... you can use the modules I mentioned in my last post to compare the two XMLs, you just have to critical interpret the results.