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The topic of finding valuable information for business managers and Internal Audit is a hot tactical area. What is one surefire way to do more with less? Allow your department to analyze data for new risks and save some money for your company. I worked for two companies, Costco Wholesale and PRIDE Industries, where I was able to save my company more than $1 million each because of analyzing Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable data – see “Experience Highlights” for more details
So, how can you do it? Is there a trick of the trade?
Yes, the Audit Command Language (ACL) software.
I wish I had ACL at Costco and was extremely happy to have it at PRIDE. I used similar techniques at Costco (through SQL) at PRIDE with ACL and had superior results because of the audit log and the ability to recreate and rollback data. The ACL system is different from using SQL or other data manipulator system because it does not affect the source data – which is so important when you are in a fraud, forensic, or other important audit.
Think about it for a second. If you’re in front of a judge and jury, do you want to admit that you don’t have data integrity? Do you want to avoid that admission? I highly recommend using ACL.
If you are a practitioner, you need to move out of your comfort zone – Excel. MS Excel is a wonderful tool, but it doesn’t do everything. Often, this is a reason why Internal Auditors/Accountants don’t get along with the IT Department – we say to the gurus, “Just fix it!” “Give me the data I need!” Wouldn’t be more powerful to speak their language and translate that data into powerful information for Management? Let me put it a different way: If a plumber comes over to your house and repairs your leaky faucet – would you use a monkey wrench? A sledge hammer? No! Your plumber would use multiple tools to accomplish the task. Shouldn’t you? Take advantage of your company’s education funds to get educated with the tool. If you have ACL on your desktop and are afraid to double-click the icon (as I was “once upon a time” at Deloitte), release your fears and play around with it.
If you are a manager working with IT Audit staff – and analyze massive quantities of data – ACL is a tool for your staff to maintain the integrity of the data file and preserve it for document retention, compliance, and legal purposes. By the way, it also serves the task of recording every transaction that your auditor does throughout their auditing process. You can reperform every step of their process to determine your employee’s talent level for evaluations and reduce the amount of audit work papers. ACL will be able to increase the efficiency of your subordinates. More audits done in less time? Cool.
Oh, and by the way, you can also suggest new audit areas that can make your Internal Audit department shine – like revenue leakage, post-payment recovery, discount, and contract terms audits. Show how your department can save money and increase enterprise profitability. This is all without using scripts to automatically run requested reports from your company’s computer system.
BOTTOM LINE: Don’t be afraid of that ACL icon. Use it to be more efficient and save your company money. Reach out to me for tips and tricks on how I used ACL to save my company’s money.
Use this free resource TODAY to make your little part of the world a better place.
AUDITORS RULE!
With Greatest Sincerity,
Tim
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I look forward to your comments! Feel free to email me at trhediger@hotmail.com or visit my LinkedIn site: http://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyhediger (LinkedIn)
Interesting. Can we do that for our government? Our companies?
Hediger's Blog 