New to IDEA Software !!!

robbie.young

Forums

Hello,
 
Here at Chiene + Tait we are a new user to the software during our external audits and are looking for tips on how to best use the software!
 
Hope to hear from you soon 
 
 

Brian Element Mon, 01/14/2019 - 12:36

Hi Robbie and welcome to the site.

First I would take the 101 training if you already haven't, it gives you a good overview of what you can do with the software plus it has lots of exercises for you to try out the software.  What you can do with it depends on exactly what you are auditing.  Stuff that I have used it for when I used to do external audits are:

  • Recreation of the trail balance to reconcile to the client info, I did this to make sure that my data was complete and that I could rely on it.
  • Look for duplicate payments.
  • Look for gaps, such as gaps in cheque numbers.
  • Perform extractions such as looking for unusual items like high value items.
  • The software has multiple statistical sampling routines, you have everything from a simple random sample to performing a Monitary Unit Sample.
  • It allows you to take databases from many different formats and put them together.

So there are lots you can do and this is really an open ended question.  I would recommend you go to the CaseWare Analytics web site and check out some of their webinars (https://casewareanalytics.com/webinars) or going to their portal and check out some of their videos.  Also there are lots of vidoes that could give you ideas, the big ones to search for is CaseWare Analytics and Audimation on YouTube as there are lots of webinars that discuss different aspects of the audit and how to use the software.

Good luck in your use of it.  The best thing you can do is to start using it, even if it is only one item in your audit and keep using it and don't let the software become shelfware, used properly it can save you time in your audits and improve your confidence as you can look at 100% of the transactions instead of just doing a sample.

robbie.young Thu, 01/17/2019 - 06:08

Hi Brian, 
Thanks a great deal for your informative and helpful reply to my questions.
We are currently using the IDEA Software in our audits for duplicates, fuzzy and others. 
We are looking for any limitations / kn0wn downfalls to the software that you are aware off and how to combat this whilst making IDEA Software a fundamental parts of our audit work. 
IT would be good to have more of an explanation of the STATS routines and methods. What is a MONETARY UNIT SAMPLE etc? 
Thanks a great deal from all those at Chiene and Tait Chartered Accountants 
 
 
 
 

Brian Element Thu, 01/17/2019 - 06:14

Hi Robbie, you might want to check out this post as it lists some of the known limitations of IDEA http://ideascripting.com/forum/idea-limitations

Also here is a video by Audimation that talks about sampling that might help you out.  https://www.audimation.com/Resources/Video-Gallery/emodule/1675/eitem/1…

There are lots of videos on youtube that you might want to check out as there are probably some that will help you out.