1 / 12

Comprehensive Overview of Data Analysis Tools for Auditors

Explore leading tools like Generalised Audit Software, SQL, Microsoft Access and more. Learn about functionalities, benefits, and best practices for data analysis in auditing.

gstallworth
Download Presentation

Comprehensive Overview of Data Analysis Tools for Auditors

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Data Analysis Tools Session 10

  2. Data Analysis Tools • Generalised Audit Software • SQL and SQL-based tools • Microsoft Access • Other tools

  3. Generalised Audit Software • Readymade software packages for auditors for use in different environments • Leading packages • IDEA (Interactive Data Extraction and Analysis) • ACL (Audit Command Language) • Other tools • Prospector • CA- Panaudit Plus

  4. Generalised Audit Software – Functionality • Sampling • Sequence Checking • Duplicates and Gap Detection • Totalling • Stratification • Ageing • File Comparison • Exception Reporting • Recalculation and Computations • Import/export data from/to different formats

  5. SQL and SQL-based Tools • SQL (Structured Query Language) • Standard language for data definition and manipulation on RDBMS • User-friendly SQL tools with GUI/ drag and drop interface • SQL queries can be run • Either directly on the auditee’s RDBMS • Or using MS Access etc. as front-end tool

  6. SQL Tools - Benefits • Non-procedure oriented language • SQL standard adhered to by all RDBMS products • Auditor can run the same SQL queries on all RDBMS platforms • Provides greater flexibility • Looking at data in a variety of ways to get “lay of the land” • Freedom to go back to database as required

  7. Running SQL Queries on Auditee System – Issues • SQL is extremely powerful • Single statement can process millions of records • Potential for performance disruption, and inadvertent alteration/deletion of data • Running SQL queries on downloaded data – preferred choice

  8. SQL Select Statement • SELECT Product_Code, Product_Description, Product_Rate, Product_Quantity FROM Products WHERE Product_Rate > 10

  9. SQL Select Statement – Options/ Clauses • JOINS – for different tables • Calculated fields • ORDER BY clause for sorting • WHERE clause with multiple conditions • Summary values using GROUP BY and HAVING clauses • Combining SQL statements using UNION clause or through nesting • Built-in and user defined functions/ procedures

  10. Microsoft Access • Part of Microsoft Office Professional – an office automation suite • Useful as a querying tool • For smaller relational databases • Export data from RDBMS • Import into MS Access • Queries using Query Designer/Wizards

  11. Microsoft Access (Contd.) • For larger databases • Performance suffers • Two options • Migrate auditee databases into auditor’s RDBMS product; use MS Access as front-end • Break up database into smaller Access databases; use links

  12. Other Tools - Spreadsheets • MS Excel / Lotus 1-2-3 etc. • Basic querying features • Excellent features for graphs and charts

More Related