I'm guessing that you are using Spreadsheet::ParseExcel which in turn uses OLE::Storage_Lite.

OLE::Storage_Lite has known issues with Excel files that contain macros. From the documentation:

  CAUTION 

  A saved file with VBA (a.k.a Macros) by this module will not work co
+rrectly.
[download]

Perhaps, you can access the file via ODBC or ADO either locally or remotely. I've never done this on Unix however. Maybe someone else can suggest how.

--
John.