How to Have Audit Analytics That Works — Part 1

With all the limitations of shortness, here are some ideas I learned in 25+ years that helped me get excellent results in using data analysis in risk and audit during my career.

1. Use the right people — not everyone in an audit team is interested in data analytics. Furthermore, some people prefer to avoid it as much as possible.

However, there are people with a keen interest in Digital Technology and data. Think about who these people are and get them involved first. Then, once data analytics is “business as usual”, start involving the rest of the team.

2. Focus on business — just because the word “data” is here does not mean this is a technical initiative. Consequently, data analytics is not about the tools or the technologies. Instead, any data analytics exercise must link to the business goals or, in the audit world, to the Terms of Reference (TORs).

To do this, review the TORs before deciding to use data analytics in an audit, determine the data sources and the specific audit tests and only then consider the technical aspect.

3. Select the right tool — you may have the latest, greatest tools for data analysis, but that doesn’t mean you have to use them every time. Sometimes, just running analyses in Excel will be enough. In other cases, you may need to use…