Sometimes the contents of a data field are different from what they are supposed to
be. For example, a numeric field in one or more records may contain alphabetic data
because of a program error or a clerical mistake. Also, a field may contain corrupted
data because of an error in the file-flattening process. Whatever the cause, prior to performing
any substantive tests on a new file, it is important that the auditor validate its
contents. Invalid data will distort the test results and may cause a system failure. ACL’s
Verify command analyzes the data fields in the selected file to ensure that their contents
are consistent with the field type in the file definition. Any validity errors detected by
ACL need to be traced to their source and resolved. For purposes of discussion, we will
assume that the files used in all tests described hereafter have been properly defined and
verified. Figure 10.9 shows the ACL Verify command box