Auditors refer to developing these types of
systems tools as “CAATs”. In most businesses,
there is a heavy reliance on automation and
systems to drive business processes and both
management and financial reporting. As a result,
the auditor needs to be able to not only validate
the production data but, in many cases, ensure the
automated processes are working as designed.
There are different choices available to an
internal audit function when developing
CAATs. Working within a production system
environment is often one that most audit
functions either ignore or do not even consider.