From IC Insider Alteryx
Approximately 50% of organizations have transitioned to some form of continuous audit (CA). A CA system uses technology to automate the audit process. Rather than a limited sampling of data that takes place in the past, CA happens in real-time. This allows the internal auditors to “continually” gather business data on internal controls, information systems, processes, and transactions.
The downsides of a conventional audit are:
- They only provide a snapshot of the business at a point in the past. This means that issues may go undetected for months.
- Audits only analyze a sample of transactions and data. This creates the possibility that issues may be missed.
- Audits are manual and require a large amount of time and resources.
- Audits can take weeks or months.
The benefits of a continuous audit are:
- They are ongoing and take place in real-time.
- CA analyze all transactions, not just a sample.
- Because they are automated using software, they are less labor-intensive.
- There no longer is the need to wait weeks or months for company data.
Why Alteryx?
Alteryx supports the continuous audit use case and has worked with multiple customers in creating their CA system. Alteryx can enable Data connectivity to every financial system, many of which are outdated and in silos. This allows for the testing of millions of transactions to ensure all risks are addressed. Audits can be run at any time leadership require. Alteryx allows for end-to-end automation with self-service dashboards without reliance on the Data Science team.
Alteryx can handle even the toughest audit challenge.
Alteryx has the experience of successfully helping even the largest organizations like the US Department of Defense (DoD) tackle their audit challenges . With one of the largest operating budgets in the world and operational complexity, creating a unified view of data for common reporting processes such as a financial audit is extremely difficult due to the thousands of different business and accounting systems spread throughout the department. With scalable access to data and analytics the DOD was able to harness data from 1,200 different systems, reduce a multi-month process down to weeks with scalable automation and vastly improve data quality and the reduction in errors.
To get started with a continuous audit, Gartner suggests the following steps:
- Establish Priority Areas
- Identify Audit Rules
- Determine Process Frequency
- Configure Parameters and Execute
- Manage Results and Follow Up
- Report Results
- Assess Emerging Risk and Add to register
Want to Learn More?
Following these steps and using Alteryx can result in an effective continuous audit program.
For more information on Continuous Audit and other Audit use cases, download the ebook.
About Alteryx, Inc.
Revolutionizing business through data science and analytics, Alteryx offers an end-to-end analytics platform that empowers data analysts and scientists alike to break data barriers, deliver insights, and experience the thrill of getting to the answer faster. Organizations all over the world rely on Alteryx daily to deliver actionable insights. For more information, visit www.alteryx.com.
Alteryx is a registered trademark of Alteryx, Inc.
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By Loren Blinde
July 1, 2022
