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AuditNet® Software Review by Jim Kaplan
Monarch V7 Professional Edition
One of the skills required for the next generation of internal
auditors is the ability
to identify relevant digital information within the vast amounts of data
available
for audit projects. This means that digital age auditors need a
set of tools
that will facilitate accessing information stored on organizational
computers and
media. One of these tools is Monarch V7 Professional Edition. Monarch
software has actually been available as a data interrogation tool since
the introduction of PCs in the late 1980's. The latest version is a much
more intuitive program that many technology oriented auditors will find
easy to use.
According to a Monarch case study from Orange County, California Monarch transforms financial statements and accounting reports such as general ledgers, receivables and payables aging, cash journals, and more, into live data on your PC, alone or along with other data sources. Instead of printing reports to a printer, these reports can be run to a print file instead. Users can then open these report print files in Monarch, and easily build a model template to parse and extract the data from any report, no matter how complex the report formatting might be.
Monarch uses a technique called report mining or the ability to
use ordinary
report print files as data sources. This is important in that many times
auditors
have a difficult time explaining to IT personnel what data is needed for
audit
analysis. Auditors can review standard reports produced by the organization
and
request a print or prn file which can then be imported into Monarch and
formatted for digital analysis. Monarch V7 Professional can also handle data
in multiple formats from comma/HTML-delineated files to multi-dimensional
spreadsheets.
After installing the software I started working with the Monarch Learning
Guide
(MLG). Be aware that the MLG is a comprehensive 295 page manual that will
teach you everything you need to know about working with Monarch. The MLG
includes 16 lessons starting from an introduction right through to working
with HTML and external databases. As the MLG works with data files provided
by Monarch it is easy to become comfortable with the software. It is
important to allocate the time to work through the MLG to fully understand
the power of this data interrogation tool. The challenge comes when you
actually have to ask your data owners to provide you with print files for
standard reports. The MLG says to ask your PC manager or IT manager for help
in accessing report files. I felt that Datawatch could provide more
information
on getting the data files or print reports.
All in all, I found Monarch relatively easy to use with a well-written
learning
and reference guides. Datawatch support for Monarch V7 includes seminars,
on-site training, telephone, email and a Web-based discussion group.
Additionally if you have complex reports they offer a model building
service. They publish a monthly newsletter for users and sponsor an annual
Datawatch User Conference. Auditors clearly need tools to audit the ever
increasing amount of digital information now available. As an auditor that
believes in the use of technology I don't think that we can ever limit the
number of tools that we have available to help us accomplish our
mission. Monarch V7 Professional is another CAATT application that should
prove useful either as a standalone tool or in conjunction with other data
analysis, extraction and interrogation tools such as ACL and I.D.E.A.
Minimum Requirements Win 98, ME, 2000, XP and NT4.0 SP5, 32 MB RAM, 80 MB
HD, Pentium,
256 color display and IE 4.01 SP2 or higher.
For more information go to www.Datawatch.com
