My understanding is that SAP user roles are difficult to design properly, and the review of user authorizations and access rights is equally challenging. I thought that I could use analytics to identify instances where a user had performed transactions that constituted a potential separation of duties (SOD) issues in the FI component and support management in their reviews to identify roles that were not designed properly. The analysis utilized…
I was fortunate it my early career by a forward-thinking manager. Back in 1990, my manager allowed me to explore the notion of data analytics to support audit. The manager also had the view that the analytics developed for the audit (e.g., AP analytics) should be handed over to management for their use (e.g., AP manager does continuous monitoring). So, I began my analytics career with the notion that analytics…
Part #1 looked at why assessing data integrity is an important, value-added activity that supports management decision making. Part #2 examines things you can do to improve the integrity of the data and your analytic results. While I will be looking at data integrity primarily from a data analytics perspective, it is important to recognize that many people play a role in the integrity of data. Ensuring data integrity is…
A common refrain that I hear is, “We can’t rely on the data because it does not have integrity.” This raises a couple of questions in my mind and should in yours as well. First, what is management using to produce its reports and make decisions? Second, how accurate does your data have to be to allow you to perform analytics and arrive at valid recommendations/conclusions. The obvious answer to…
Cost recovery firms make millions of dollars identifying and recovering duplicate payments. They often have well developed analytics that can identify duplicate payments while reducing the number of false positives. You will pay 25-50% but you are getting money back, so it feels like a win-win. However, there are two things to keep in mind: 1) they go after the low hanging fruit and the largest possible duplicates; and 2)…
This is the sixth in a series of articles on data analytics and internal audit. This article looks at the audit finding statement: Impact. The focus will be on the use of data analytics to assist you in determining the impact of what was observed (the condition) and to support the recommendation. In simple terms, the impact answers the ‘why should I care.’ What is the impact of controls failing…
This is the fifth in a series of articles on data analytics and internal audit. This article looks at the audit finding statement: Cause. The focus will be on the use of data analytics to assist you in determining the cause of what was observed (the condition) and to support the development of the recommendation. In simple terms, the cause answers the ‘why.’ Why are controls failing to prevent and/or…
This is the fourth in a series of articles on data analytics and internal audit. This article looks at the audit finding statement: Condition. The focus will be on the use of data analytics and how the condition supports the development of the recommendation. In simple terms, the condition is “what is.” Typically, the analytics are testing for the existence of something, and the results are the condition. For example,…
This is the next post in a series that discusses the importance of having a proper audit objective, defining the business goals and objectives, and the risks to the achievement of those objectives. This article will discuss the identification and assessment of risk. The next series of articles will look at the audit finding statement: Criteria, Condition, Cause, Impact and Recommendation. The focus will be on the use of data…
According to the Protiviti report, ‘SOX Compliance and the Promise of Technology and Automation1’ SOX compliance costs have shown year-over-year increases but are starting to level off. It also states that organizations are beginning to make greater use of technology and automation to support the compliance process. However, implementing automation in the SOX compliance process is difficult for many organizations. Understanding and defining requirements, getting stakeholder buy-in, and the investment…