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Accounting Procedures for Internal Control
CLICK HERE TO ORDER
Payables Test Set for IDEA™
by Richard B. Lanza with N. Jill Davies
The second in the series of CAATT books from Ekaros duplicates the previous ACL volume for users of IDEA™ software. I reviewed the first book in this series in October 2003 so let me rephrase my comments from that review and add a few pertaining to the IDEA scripts.
It is very rare that you see an author provide practical solutions to everyday audit situations in a logical and understandable format. In the Effective Analyst Series of books published by Ekaros Analytical Inc. Richard B. Lanza, the appointed guru of data and risk analysis auditing and computer aided audit tools and techniques teams with N. Jill Davies the developer of the IDEA™ version of the payables test set and they jointly hit the nail right on the head! If you are considering the use of a data analysis tool such as IDEA™ then this book is a must have! In the Payables Test Set for IDEA™, Rich walks auditors through the reasons why they should be auditing payables, a comprehensive list of audit objectives, audit questions and the IDEA™ scripts. After reading the easy to understand explanations why would any reasonable auditor not consider routine accounts payable audits? He takes you through each of the areas such as Staying Effective and Efficient, Are Transactions Authorized (Internal and External)? Are Transactions Accurate and Complete? Safeguarding Check Processing, Audit Trails and Reporting, Statistics and Sampling. The author describes each area so that IDEA™ beginners can understand the mechanics behind the scripts provided on the accompanying CD-ROM. The CD-ROM contains a set of sample data files, a sample data request letter and articles and other resources for developing continuous monitoring systems. As a beginning IDEA user I was able to run the scripts and understand the logic by reviewing the provided code. It would be quite easy to take the existing scripts and modify them to apply to your own datasets. Like they say, “it doesn’t get any easier than this.” By using the tools provided in this publication you will begin to appreciate the true power of CAATTs and it will motivate you to use the software on every audit you perform.
The Payables Test Set for IDEA™ is a must have for beginners and advanced users of the software. If you currently do not use a computer aided audit tool such as ACL or IDEA™, you will immediately see why you should consider adding one to your audit tool box. The Payables Test Set for IDEA™ is just one more reason why CAATs rule!
To order the Payables Test Set for IDEA™ contact Ekaros Analytical
Phone 604-817-0734
Fax 435-304-4392
Cost: $200 U.S.
$300 CAN
Contact the author Richard B. Lanza at rich@richlanza.com