Financial and management reporting – business and operations intelligence
Analytics is an important part of the audit planning process. As an auditor
needs a documented understanding of the environment, the best way is
often utilizing the existing data and reporting. Most systems are designed to
auditing, understanding the nature of exceptions, how often they occur, how
long it takes to fix an error, and at what level of management the error is
authorized. An infrequent error is usually not a problem; however, recurring
errors are usually a symptom of a bigger problem.
Some of the key process life cycle exception reports of which an auditor
needs to be aware are system parameter changes, deleted records, override
transactions, over-limit authorization (especially in payments or where cash
leaves the building), personal expenses and abnormal delays, or hold ups.
In addition, an auditor can use the production data to filter information and
tailor reports for very specific purposes, if needed.