ABSTRACT
This chapter examines typical Computer-Assisted Audit Techniques (CAATs) in common use and the selection of the appropriate technique based upon the type of evidence and the audit objective. Computer-assisted audit techniques or CAATs may be defined generically as computer-based tools that are used to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the audit process by using the computer as a tool for both gathering and analyzing audit data. When auditors were first faced with the problems of conducting effective audits in IT environments, the initial response was to seek evidence sources allowing the auditor to "audit around the computer". Generalized audit software (GAS) is software designed specifically for auditors in order to provide a user-friendly audit tool to carry out a variety of standard tasks, such as examining records, testing calculations, and making computations. Data-oriented CAATs, on the other hand, will ignore the programs used to generate the data and focus exclusively on data analysis.
