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ACL 9

Tutorial 1

COMMANDS:
ANALYZE -> TOTAL
ANALYZE -> PROFILE
ANALYZE -> STATISTICS
SAMPLING -> SAMPLE
ANALYZE -> SEQUENCE
DATA -> SORT
ANALYZE -> DUPLICATES
ANALYZE -> GAPS

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. Open the sample project and click on the appropriate table to perform the tutorial. The
name of the table is indicated in bold type prior to each section in the tutorial (e.g. AP TRANS).

AP_TRANS

1. Using the TOTAL command, develop a hash control total and an amount control total
for AP-TRANS.

Developing hash control total entails Summation of numbers having no practical meaning as a
control precaution; used by auditors primarily in a computer application.
The purpose is to identify whether a record has been lost or omitted from processing. For
example, check numbers may be summed to get a hash total. If the total of the check numbers
processed does not agree with the hash total, a discrepancy exists, and investigation is required to
uncover the error.

For example, we have 4 records:


Record_1: 100.02 for Invoice number
Record_2: 101.01 for Product number
Record_3: 200.15 for vendor number
Record 4: 300.07 for Date

The hash control total would be calculated like this:

10002 + 10101 + 20015+30007 = 70125


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publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
The hash total is 70125 which should be outputted as: "000000000070125"

An amount control total for AP-TRANS is

What recommendation would you make to develop a field for hash control total?

There should be source document control in which control for exposure, control
procedures are needed over source documents to account for each field for hash control
total through the use of uniquely pre-numbered source documents, Use source documents
in sequence and periodically audit source documents

1. Run PROFILE on the file, Invoice Amount.

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publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Can you determine if there are any negative transactions? Explain.

There was no negative transaction based on the testing of the invoice amount, product
quantity and the unit cost of the four fields.

© 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a
publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
2. Run STATISTICS on each of the four available fields with the Std Dev box checked.

© 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a
publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Describe your audit direction to specific invoices based on the results of STATISTICS.

The auditor should consider the tolerable rate of deviation from the
controls being tested in determining specific invoices and more
importantly Review, analyze and investigate specific invoices as appropriate

3. Run SAMPLE (Sampling -> Sample) for the AP_TRANS file, using the data from step
3. Sample Invoice Amount, Interval of $6,609, Begin $14.88 (minimum invoice) and
Cutoff $56,767.20. Save results as AP_Trans_Sample.

AR

4. Run SEQUENCE on AR, using Invoice Number (Ref_No). Make sure to use only
Invoice Type Transactions (“IN”); use Expression Builder to filter out other transaction
types.

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publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
What do you notice about the invoice numbers?

5. Re-run SEQUENCE on the same file but this time check “Duplicates” and “Gaps”
(filter Invoice type transactions only).

© 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a
publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
What information is provided to the auditor about testing invoices?
10 sequence errors were detected with seven characters and numeric Invoice transaction type

6. SORT AR by Invoice Amount in descending order. Use Sort On to specify descending


order. Specify TYPE “IN”. Use Output File name AR_SortAmount.

What sort of anomalies is the auditor looking for?


Auditors might be looking for duplicated transactions, gaps between the transaction
sequences, possible negative transactions and other evidences to support the audit work.
This in a view to gather audit evidence in line with the audit objectives requiring
effective procedures and test of controls or control procedure to be conducted.

© 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a
publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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