Data Analysis Tools Session 10

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

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

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

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

Non-procedure oriented language 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

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

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

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

Part of Microsoft Office Professional – an office automation suite 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

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

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