ACL 9

Tutorial 3

COMMANDS:
ANALYZE -> AGE
DATA -> JOIN
DATA -> MERGE

The tutorials in this folder are supplemental exercises that relate to ACL 9 topics covered in chapters 8,
9, 10, and 12 in the Hall, IT Auditing, 3rd edition textbook. The tutorials presume that the student has
installed ACL from the CD accompanying the text and has worked through the ACLStart.pdf document
in the ACL Manual folded. The tutorials are not a substitute for this basic ACL knowledge.

These tutorials use data tables stored in the Sample Project.acl that is automatically installed with ACL.

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Open the sample project and click on the appropriate table to perform the tutorial. The name of the table

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is indicated in bold type prior to each section in the tutorial (e.g. AP TRANS).

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1. The Aging of Accounts Receivable is a frequently used audit technique that is supported by the
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AGE command in ACL:

(a) Using AGE, develop an aging report of current, 30, 60, 90, 120, and above 120 days past
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due accounts. Set the cutoff date at December 31, 2000. Age on the DUE date field.
Create a filter to include only Invoice type [IN] in the report.
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 EMPMAST

2. JOINING, RELATING, AND MERGING DATA

The JOIN command will combine the fields of two files with different structures to produce a third
file. In ACL, this task requires one file to be designated the PRIMARY file and the other the
SECONDARY file. If you JOIN a transaction file with a master file, the transaction file would be the
PRIMARY file and the master file would be the SECONDARY file. You obtain a different result if
the files are reversed. The PRIMARY file is the first file to be opened, and the SECONDARY file is
the second file opened. You MUST sort the SECONDARY file in ascending sequence on the key
character field before using JOIN. It is a good idea to also sort the PRIMARY file in ascending
sequence on the key character fields. Instead of SORTing the PRIMARY file, you may INDEX it.

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 ACL permits several options for joining. The table below outlines the records included with each
option.

Option Button PRIMARY File SECONDARY File

MATCHED Primary (default) Only matched records Only matched records
MATCHED Primary include all Primary All records Only Matching records
MATCHED Primary include all secondary Only matched records All records
UNMATCHED primary Only unmatched records None
Many to Many Matched All matched records All matched records

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(a) Join all matched records in the PAYROLL file with records from EMPMAST on EmpNo.
Make PAYROLL the primary file. Name the resulting file PRJOIN.

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(b) Review the Command Log for unmatched records. What do the bypassed (unmatched)
records mean to you as an auditor?
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 There are 2 bypassed records of 44 total. This indicates that there are 2 records in the
secondary file that do not match anything in the primary file. This could mean that
payments are being made to phony employees.

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(c) Execute a command that will identify payroll records for which no employee exists. Join all

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unmatched records (see More tab) in the EMPMAST file with records from PAYROLL.
Open PAYROLL file first. Check all fields in transaction file and the master file. Name the

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file PR2JOIN.
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2. The MERGE command will combine the fields of two files with identical structures to produce a
third file. Both files MUST be sorted in ascending sequence on the key character field before
MERGE is executed.
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 Required:
Describe a situation when an auditor would use MERGE (include the audit objective).

An auditor may use MERGE to satisfy the occurrence objective. Perhaps the auditor would use the
MERGE command if trying to determine whether an AP disbursement’s vendor number from one set
of data matches a vendor number from a master list.

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