Information Technology, Data Analysis, and Audit Documentation
This domain tests how auditors use IT, data analysis, and working papers so that conclusions are reproducible and defensible.
Data analysis
- Define the question, extract data, test completeness and accuracy, cleanse, analyze, and document.
- Computer-assisted audit techniques include queries, joins, duplicate detection, gap detection, and trend analysis.
- Data reliability improves when totals are reconciled to the financial statements, record counts are checked, and access controls are reviewed.
Documentation
- ISSAI 2300 requires documentation sufficient for an experienced auditor to understand the work, evidence, and conclusions.
- Record who performed the work, what was done, when, the source, purpose, result, and reviewer.
- Retain records under the applicable rules and protect confidentiality.
Worked example
To test procurement, the auditor joins the contract register (3,214 contracts) to the payment ledger. The total contracts are reconciled to the general ledger, and the auditor finds 47 contracts with no payment and 12 payments with no contract. The 12 exceptions are followed up. The working paper records the query, extraction date, row counts, reconciliation, and follow-up. The finding is supportable because the data was reconciled and exceptions were investigated.
Traps
- Relying on an entity-produced spreadsheet without reconciliation.
- Not documenting the script or extraction date.
- Treating an exception as a finding before follow-up.