ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the use of IDEA, which is the second most commonly used generalized audit software in use. Like ACL, it is a powerful tool for a nontechnical auditor to examine data in detail from a variety of sources with a variety of standard audit tests and present the results in a range of high-impact presentation formats. IDEA is a computer-based data interrogation and analysis tool primarily used by auditors, forensic investigators, accountants, and IT support staff. Data can be profiled to identify exceptional or anomalous items in a manner that would be unachievable without the use of appropriate generalized audit software. IDEA is one of the easiest to learn analytic tools for auditors. As can be seen, the field definitions have been imported directly from the ODBC database into IDEA. The data fields may now be defined by highlighting them in the Field Editor area. In this case, the auditor will highlight the Time information.