Businesses often rely on automation and systems to drive processes, management and financial reporting. As a result, auditors must be able to validate the production data, ensure automated processes are working properly, and design the audit procedures and tests. A computer-aided auditing technique (CAAT) can help assess the risks and control environment of a company, but developing an effective one can be challenging when factoring in time, systems security and protection.
Audit software enables the auditor to access and filter all of the organizational data, while providing creditability and flexibility. It allows them to test, review, and ensure automated processes continue to run without error. The continuous audit provides business and operational intelligence to assess risk in each area of the audit universe. In the long run, using a CAAT to probe exceptions and variances can uncover interesting situations that add value to the organization.