Practical Analytics for Accountants and Auditors: Using Microsoft Excel to Identify Unusual Transactions and Figures in Financial Statements for Investigation

Description

Most accounting software now provides features to export data to Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. This allows accountants, auditors and investigators to use an automated tool that they are already familiar with to analyse and gain further insight of the data.

The data can be analysed for risk assessment or for the identification of unusual transactions or fluctuations for further analysis. This can increase the efficiency of analysis and audit work as large volume of data can be analysed in a much shorter time. This is in line with the principle of risk-based sampling.

It can also increase the effectiveness of data analysis and investigation. For example, irregularities such as procurement staff receiving bribery from suppliers, procurement staff breaking large value purchase orders into smaller value purchase orders to bypass controls, and management “borrowing” cash from the companies often result in unusual transactional patterns such as increase cost of supplies, increase in volume of purchase orders below the control cutoff limit, round payment/receipt and round-trip payment/receipt. Manual review of transactions to identify such potential irregularities is laborious and inefficient. Using Excel to identify such potential irregularities will be significantly more efficient.

Programme Outline

• Video showing exporting of data to Excel (from Sage ACCPAC, MYOB)
• Common analysis on payroll and purchase transactions using Excel functions
• Max/max2/min/min analysis
• Benford Law
• Beneish M Score
• Altman Z Score

Case studies will be used to explain the irregularities and the use of the above models.

You may bring along your laptop to practise the hands-on exercises during the workshop. You will be provided with data in Excel for the practices.

Participants who choose not to embark on the hands-on exercises will still benefit from a good appreciation of how Accounting Analytics can identify unusual transactions and figures in financial statements.

No prior knowledge in financial modelling is required, but some working knowledge of basic excel (eg. formula function) is preferred.

This workshop qualifies for 7.0 CPE hours in Information Technology (Category 5).

What you will learn

• Learn to use Excel more efficiently to identify irregularities in financial statements
• Have a good appreciation of how Accounting Analytics can identify unusual transactions and figures in financial statements

Target Audience

External auditors, internal auditors, compliance officers, accountants or investors who are interested in using EXCEL to help in some of their review work

Expert Speaker

Chee Hay Kheong Daniel

Daniel holds an Honours degree in Accountancy from the National University of Singapore and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). He has more than 13 years of experience in the accounting profession, having worked for one of the Big 4 accounting firms both in Singapore and in the United Kingdom. He has also more than 5 years of senior management experience with multi-national corporations, managing their operations in Singapore and Asia.

Daniel is a highly sought-after seminar trainer, and was an Adjunct Professor in the School of Business, Singapore University of Social Sciences and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Accounting of the NUS Business School. He served as a committee member of both the IT Committee and the Examination Committee of ISCA, and was a Committee member of the Disciplinary Sub-Committee of Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).