How to Have Audit Analytics That Works — Part 4

10. Focus your resources — introducing data analytics to an audit team is difficult like any other new digital technology initiative. To make things easier and more likely to succeed, start with one process and then expand to others. You can pick any area for which there is available data, the risk is above average, and audits occur regularly. Examples include HR/Payroll, Procurement, Sales, Customer Service, and Treasury.

For example, most audit departments need to do an HR/Payroll-related audit every 1–3 years. However, these areas are always front of mind for senior management, and a system always supports them. These two factors make HR/Payroll an excellent candidate for the first area where auditors can use data analytics.

As an added advantage, much information is publicly available on using data analytics in HR/Payroll. Thus, you don’t need to start from zero. Instead, you can take the public knowledge and adapt it to suit your needs.

11. Think smaller — for the first 2–3 times when using data analytics to audit a process, it’s better not to try and analyse everything straightaway. If you identified 15 analyses to do, only do five of these. They need to be the most relevant and relatively easy to complete.