Page 141 - DCOM509_ADVANCED_AUDITING

Advanced Auditing

Notes 8.4 General Auditing Software (GAS)

No audit is complete unless an auditor substantiates findings with the evidence collected by
them. To collect the evidence, it is necessary for auditors to process the data residing on computer
systems using some type of software. Worldwide auditors use General Audit Software (like
ACL or IDEA) or high-level languages like SQL (Structured Query Language) and industry
specific or embedded audit software tools.

These can also be used to analyse audit trails recorded by an operating, database management or
application systems. General Audit Software (GAS) can be used to access different types of file
formats, file re-organization (such as sorting, merging, joining etc.), selecting records on certain
logic, carrying out arithmetical operations (like addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division), classifying the data according to some given criteria, frequency and statistical analysis,
and editing and formatting output for preparing reports. In GAS such as ACL, the entire
processing of the data can be done without materially affecting the data under examination and
a log of audit procedure is also recorded for evidence and reporting.
General Audit Software (GAS) can also be used to accomplish following audit tasks:
 Examine quality of data: Auditors can use GAS to examine existence, accuracy,
completeness, consistency and timeliness of data maintained on computer systems.

Notes It may be noted that quality of data reflects the quality of personnel who developed
the system, maintain it and use the system.

Even if a system is well designed and maintained the data supplied by users may be low
in quality.
 Examine quality of system processes: Even if quality of data is high, quality of system
process may be poor.

Example: Though data in accounts receivable may be accurate, complete, consistent and
timely, there may be a large number of overdue accounts reflecting adversely on accounts
receivable application system and personnel using the system.
 Examine the existence of the entities the data purports to represent: Data may be accurate,
complete and consistent and may not still represent an object in real world and may
represent a bogus entry. In GAS, powerful reporting features can be used for confirmation
or sample inventory for physical observation.
 Undertake analytical review: The purpose of this is to obtain key ratios and totals from
the data for comparison with previous year’s data or that of industry for analytical review.

Notes General Audit Software (GAS) does not require any special skills from auditor.

To use it auditor need only understand the GAS and a good understanding of the databases and
ODBC, file structures and the ability to create logical queries using the software.

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