Using Excel as an Audit Tool

Sampling directly from Excel worksheets

16 Feb 2007 14:54:35 GMT

A very common audit procedure is to sample data stored on an Excel worksheet. Although there are many ways to perform such a sample, the procedures tend to be tedious and time consuming. I have two prototype methods for such sampling, which can be done directly through the Internet. The idea is to copy the data to be sampled from the Excel workbook and then "paste" it onto a web form, etc. There are two examples, one is for interval sampling and the other is for cumulative monetary amount (CMA) sampling. Both procedures provide the sample selected as well as a sample reconciliation report which can then be "pasted" back into Excel.

Tutorial example - web analytics software

4 Feb 2007 18:00:46 GMT

A brief tutorial on the use of web analytics software to classify data and to identify dates falling on federal holidays. Because the software is run from the web, there is no need to install or maintain the software. Also, this software is available for free use. The general approach is to analyze data contained in Excel sheets by selecting and copying the data, and then "pasting" it into the web analytics form and running the analysis on the internet. The results of the analysis can then be pasted back into Excel, if desired. The tutorial page uses data in Excel format.A description of all the analytic tools is available for review and use (no cost).

Simple, efficient method to classify data in Excel and identify duplicates

20 Jan 2007 15:10:23 GMT

Two common audit procedures are to classify data by their frequency of occurrence and to determine if there are any duplicate items. Often, this data may reside within an Excel spreadsheet. Both procedures can be done manually within Excel - for example by first sorting the data, doing subtotals, etc. However, this procedure can be both time consuming as well as error prone.

Here I discuss how this can be done very quickly, and I provide example procedure steps and screen shots of the results. The data I use to illustrate the concepts is the list of debarred medical providers in the State of New Jersey. This list can either be downloaded directly, or else you can use the spreadsheet I have already prepared.

The reason for using this list is that it contains elements common in many audit tests - e.g. State code, dates, reason codes, etc. Also, the data is public record. The data elements that I will focus on in this exercise are: state code, effective date and action taken.

Four analytical procedures will be performed:

Classify state codes by frequency ,
Determine if there are duplicate state codes,
Classify action taken by type,
Determine if there were any duplicate effective dates.

Comments are welcome (post comment on blog)....

A simple, yet effective, test using Benford's Law

Mike.Blakley@ezrstats.com — 14 Jan 2007 05:00:00 GMT

This example explains how to perform a simple, yet effective, test to determine if a data range in Excel conforms with that expected under Benford's law. The example data used is that provided in the 26th annual report to Congress (link provided). This is an audit test that should take no more than a few minutes, yet provides a good test of fit for the numbers in the range, and potentially an easy test for possible fraud or made-up data. See a step-by-step procedure.

Obtaining totals for a range