Findings Characteristics of the companies audited and the software used 1 depicts the industry type, audit engagement characteristics, and key software usage information for the four target firms. Table 1 Industry Insurance Chemical Manufacturer Bank ERP system ORACLE SAP ORACLE SAP used Characteristics Some presence IT Support team The company Audit team finds their work of the year-round. Support checks the internal switched ERPs in facilitated by the client engagement IT team checks controls before they this period. having an ERP system internal controls start the audit. because all the data is in and works with Auditors do not the same source. More auditors throughout request support of consistency in the data. the audit. No technical teams reliance on the because of their company’s internal expertise with audit controls; they make software. their own tests. Use of word YES YES YES YES processor and Audit manager spreadsheets sometimes prefers manual reports. Use of email YES YES YES YES and electronic file transfer Use of audit YES YES YES YES software for Journal extraction Data extraction Data extraction Data extraction performed data extraction performed by the performed by the performed by the by the client with script client with script client with script client with script provided by auditors. provided by provided by auditors. provided by auditors. Auditors Audit team uses own auditors. use their own laptops. laptops. Use of audit YES NO NO YES software for Data extraction Used in a SOD. SOD done by the client Multiple rule-based errors. with script provided Managers would not rely by auditors. Audit on the results. Don’t expect team to use in the future. If the uses own laptops. internal audit used it, they would leverage their work only if they could map the risks with the financial statements risks they are worried about. Can get same result with other tools.
Findings Characteristics of the companies audited and the software used 1 depicts the industry type, audit engagement characteristics, and key software usage information for the four target firms. Table 1 Industry Insurance Chemical Manufacturer Bank ERP system used ORACLE SAP ORACLE SAP Characteristics of the engagement Some presence year-round. Support IT team checks internal controls and works with auditors throughout the audit. No reliance on the company’s internal controls; they make their own tests. IT Support team checks the internal controls before they start the audit. Auditors do not request support of technical teams because of their expertise with audit software. The company switched ERPs in this period. Audit team finds their work facilitated by the client having an ERP system because all the data is in the same source. More consistency in the data. Use of word processor and spreadsheets YES YES YES Audit manager sometimes prefers manual reports. YES Use of email and electronic file transfer YES YES YES YES Use of audit software for data extraction YES Journal extraction performed by the client with script provided by auditors. Auditors use their own laptops. YES Data extraction performed by the client with script provided by auditors. Audit team uses own laptops. YES Data extraction performed by the client with script provided by auditors. YES Data extraction performed by the client with script provided by auditors. Use of audit software for SOD YES Data extraction done by the client with script provided by auditors. Audit team uses own laptops. NO NO YES Used in a SOD. Multiple rule-based errors. Managers would not rely on the results. Don’t expect to use in the future. If the internal audit used it, they would leverage their work only if they could map the risks with the financial statements risks they are worried about. Can get same result with other tools.
Usage%20of%20technology%20in%20audit%20A%20case%20study%20with%20a%20large%20Audit%20Firm.docx