See the possible uses of automated auditing tools

The word ‘automation’ in itself means that majority of the procedural things will be self-done with the help of technology and since every profession is trying to become as automated as possible, why should auditing be left behind. There have been developments made for the auditing field and in the auditing field where one can see maximum use of automated auditing tools. Depending upon the type of client, auditors use technology means over manual procedure for better efficiency and better productivity.

There are many possible uses for different types of audit software. In the case of a charitable organization, for instance, audit software is used to check the continuity of donation receipts and to search for duplicate receipt numbers, work orders and bills of lading. Likewise for municipality audits, automated tools are used to generate payroll exception reports, which can include unusually large pays, overtime payments or the largest 20 pays during the year. For financial institutions, audit software is helpful in identifying loans with unusual interest rates or payment terms; or to recalculate accrued interest on all outstanding loans.

In many industries, audit software are being used to extract unusual items like repair and maintenance expenses exceeding a certain amount for further follow-up. The software also helps search for all missing sales invoices, based on beginning and ending invoice numbers. It can be used to extract any large debit entries in revenue accounts or to identify related-party transactions; and it can also be used to compare clients’ actual balances with budgeted balances, extracting accounts with a large variance for further analysis. Automated auditing tools can be also beneficial in non-audit engagements. Professionals use it for analytical procedures, to identify and extract related party transactions and to generate reports for clients on inventory obsolescence or other matters. Audit software is also used frequently to import the client’s trial balance and then export it into a format supported by working paper software.

Audit software are useful not only for large clients of large public practices, but for smaller practices and internal auditors too. One internal auditor can reduce his or her travel to the branch offices by obtaining branch data in advance and using audit software to look for unusual items and select samples. He can then sent this information back to the branch so the supporting documents would be available when he arrived. So, we can see the overall benefits of bringing automated auditing means in practice.

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