Audit Working Paper Standard

Electronic Working Papers (Standard package for Auditors and Consultants)

Allen Computing and Business Analysis 38 London oad !arleston "orfolk #P$% &BW 'el %3*& 8+$,& -o. %**88 /$++%8 Email ste0e1ac.a2co2uk We. site 2ac.a2co2uk

Allen Computing and Business Analysis

4ur P5ilosop5y ACBA believes that no one receiving advice relating to his business is justified in acting upon it unless he is convinced it is supported by the facts and logical argument; the professionalism of the adviser is not, by itself, sufficient . The ACBA Electronic Working Papers (EWP) package provides the supporting facts and logical argument in an eas to use spreadsheet format.

'5e Concept The basic concept is to treat an E!cel "orkbook as the primar store for all "orking papers for an individual pro#ect. The package provides a logical and carefull controlled approach to the inde!ing and referencing of those "orking papers and the associated audit issues. $ts uni%ue strength lies in the emploment of &Controlled 'tatements to dra" together linked elements of sstems findings and conclusions "hile leaving the te!t "ithin the "orking papers in "hich the "ere originall created. This approach allo"s significantl enhanced assurance that the basis of the audit opinion is sound.

'5e Product        

An audit aid rather than a strait#acket Constructs opinion from small easil traceable building blocks *le!ible approach to audits "ithin strong structural fr ame"ork 'aves time b minimising the effort re%uired to maintain professional "orking paper standards $nde!es and controls the storage of all e!ternal electronic supporting evidence Po"erful tools for providing guidance to front+line auditors Encourages auditors to revie" their o"n "ork methodicall E!cellent hard cop presentation and inde!ing tools

'5e Back6up Ser0ice     

,etailed product support via "eb site -p+to+date comprehensive operational and user manuals available n line advice moderated through a user+group forum freel available n+site training/ ACBA EWP 0' E!cel for auditors programming 0' E!cel for auditors 'preadsheet design and template conversion service EWP + The electronic auditing tool


An audit aid rat5er t5an a strait7acket

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Built "ith sstems and other non+financial auditing techni%ues in mind as "ell as standard financial approaches.

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Built in 0' E!cel to encourage a strong analtical bias.

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Ensures that all the po"er of E!cel is available to the user 1 including access to other programs such as 2$'$.

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-ses a hierarchical approach to the organisation of "ork and "ork papers but facilitates the crossover and cross+referencing of audit themes and ideas beond the hierarchical boundaries 1 encourages lateral thinking.

EWP + The electronic auditing tool




Constructs opinion from small easily tracea.le .uilding .locks These building blocks are called &Controlled 'tatements

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There are si! tpes/      

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'stems ,escription 3isk Audit 4uer Audit *inding Conclusion 3ecommendation

&Controlled 'tatements are linked together programmaticall b the auditor to create a description of findings etc. suitable for reporting to a client.

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Application controls governing &links permissions encourage a logical approach and se%uencing to report "riting.

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A more detailed description of the po"er and fle!ibilit of &Controlled 'tatements is available "ithin the user manual. This can do"nloaded from the ACBA "eb site http://www.acba.co.uk/ EWP + The electronic auditing tool


9le:i.le approac5 to audits it5in strong structural frameork

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*our+tiered structure 

0odules 1 ma#or sections of the pro#ect that are likel to re%uire revie" as separate entities

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'ub+sections 1 convenient "ork programme groupings

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Working papers 1 the primar record of pro#ect "ork undertaken

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Audit evidence 1 an inde! of evidence secured in support of findings and conclusions

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5ou choose ho" to structure our pro#ects. There are man options/ 

Control ob#ectives

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Business risks

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'stems sectors

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rganisational structures etc.

The package offers a simple but robust methodolog for organising ideas for "ork programmes and for reporting the results.



#nde:ing and Storage of Supporting Electronic E0idence EWP maintains a full inde! of all evidence emploed to support findings and conclusions. Where electronic evidence is used this is automaticall copied stored and cross+referenced.

The Audit Evidence $nde! provides 

The detail of the cross+references

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6perlinks to the evidence "here it is stored "ithin the EWP

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3eturn references to the "orking paper "hich uses the supporting evidence


Allen Computing and Business Analysis The electronic evidence itself is controlled and stored "ithin sub+directories of the main folder.

Sa0es time .y minimising t5e effort re;uired to maintain professional orking paper standards

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,oes this in t"o "as/ 

A ver simple methodolog for incorporating laout templates into the package memor and

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4uick and eas access to a cross+referencing function that provides automatic hperlinks.

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6perlinks provide for pinpoint accurac in selecting the information ou "ish to reference. These ensure logical path"as bet"een all our "orking papers.

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The package is designed for use in both hard cop and paperless office environments.

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Clear and logical reference+naming protocol both to "orking papers and to the associated documentar evidence aids the marking up of paper files.

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Where supporting documentar evidence is in electronic format ou can hperlink to the evidence itself. EWP + The electronic auditing tool


Poerful tools for pro0iding guidance to front6line auditors 

7uidance can be in the form of $C4s detailed audit testing schedules arithmetic modelling templates or general instructions.

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The practicalities of creating and incorporating templates are so simple that the inclusion of a standard template8instruction for individual tests is both economic and #ustified.

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$ncorporating more sophisticated modelling templates is e%uall simple.

ACBA provides a back+up service ("ith 9:+hour turn round) for the conversion of $C4s and control matrices (e.g. C$P*A ke controls) into 0' E!cel format.



Encourages auditors to re0ie audit ork met5odically 

A structured Working Paper $nde! e!poses the logic and integrit of the audit approach to revie"ers. $nstant access to such an inde! encourages auditors and revie"ers alike to reassess the overall i mpact of an audit pro#ect.

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Application controls "ithin the ACBA package re%uire that all &Controlled 'tatements pass through a formal module revie" process before a client report can be produced.

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EWPs facilit for generating &status reports of audit %ueries raised r isks identified conclusions dra"n recommendations submitted and audit issues considered for report permits instant revie" of the "ork done and the associated audit opinion.

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EWP maintains a full audit log of activit on each "orking paper. The "orking paper &status report identifies the latest status of each "orking paper created including "hether or not it has been revie"ed "hen and b "hom.

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The combination of the &status reports facilit and the formal module revie" process offers uni%uel po"erful 4A and peer revie" options.



E:cellent 5ard copy presentation and inde:ing tools

While man audit units are activel seeking to move a"a from paper+based "orking others remain firml "edded to revie"ing and monitoring audit "ork on paper. 

The ACBA package caters for both electronic and paper+based "orking.

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$nde!ing tools cover documentar evidence as "ell as electronic "orking papers.

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All orking papers are automaticall printed "ith a header giving the basic information about the "orking paper.

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-sers predetermine the printed laout of template "orking papers covering 

Printing orientation

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0a!imum pages "ide and tall

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3o"s or columns to be printed on each page.

All the standard printing functions in 0' E!cel remain available to the user.



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ACBA maintains a comprehensive "eb site and updates it regularl

Web site includes details of the Electronic Working Papers package and all related services

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The ACBA product range covers  

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Tools (for spreadsheet audit and the analsis of lists8databases)  $ncluding 3andom 'ampling from paper audit trails 'tandard spreadsheets for  Pro#ect resource control  3isk indices  Analtical revie" 'pecialist E!cel Tools  0anagement and manipulation if strings in E!cel  Automated ro" height formatting for merged and "rapped cells  Automated default format reset function  ,elete double spaces function  ,elete ro"s based on value of cell in the first column

ACBA services include  Audit and E!cel Consultanc  'preadsheet design  'stems modelling and sstems interface analsis



=p6to6date compre5ensi0e operational manual > alays donloada.le  

The ACBA EWP operational manual is freel available to everone. An up+to+date version can be do"nloaded from the ACBA "eb site at an time.

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The manual is created in the form of an EWP pro#ect. $t is full inde!ed and cross+referenced for ease of use.

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Ever user process and form is covered in detail together "ith hints and advice on ho" to get the best out of the package.

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0akes e!tensive use of pictures and diagrams to clarif and simplif e!planations.

-oderated =ser ?roup a0aila.le on6line  

Ever user has his or her o"n role and perspective concerning EWP. ACBA operates and moderates its o"n on+line user group forum. This is e!clusivel for the use of active ACBA *unction users

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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ACBA_Functions

9eed.ack and suggestions are encouraged 

There are several "as of getting in touch "ith ACBA   

Email/ steve;acba.co.uk ACBA "eb site 1 *eedback form Post to/ ACBA <= >ondon 3oad 6arleston $P9? @BW -nited ingdom

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Telephone 1 numbers at the beginning and end of this marketing presentation.

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4uestions "hether technical or audit+related are al"as "elcome.



4n6site training ACBA EWP -S E:cel for auditors programming -S E:cel for auditors EWP 

$nitial user training covers       

Creating and editing "orking papers Cross+referencing and using the corroborative evidence inde! $ncorporating ne" templates into the package Template management and creating libraries The standard process from &Controlled 'tatements to a draft report Tabulating Audit 4ueries and 3ecommendations &'tatus 3eports and their importance in the revie" process

-S E:cel for Auditors (c5argea.le ser0ices) 

Audit+related functions    

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0imicking other sstems and spreadsheet design     

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rdering selection and filtering $mpact on calculation and recalculation Pivot tables etc. 'imple graphs 'ubTotal and 'um$f calculations

Programming 0' E!cel for Auditors  

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Appearance and function 1 potential conflicts -sing names look+up tables and input controls &$f statements and other branching methodologies Effects of protecting "orksheets 1 alternative approaches To link or not to link

,atabase treatments 

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*inding duplicates and gaps in number series 3andom numbers and sampling paper populations Averages medians and standard deviations Conditional formatting and other approaches

-ser+defined programmed functions 'ub+routines for use in treasur management evaluation

Advanced E!cel Programming  

6andling strings and string arras Based on open+sourced functions do"nloadable from ACBA "eb site EWP + The electronic auditing tool


Spreads5eet design and template con0ersion ser0ice

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Aimed primaril at EWP users "ho re%uire %uick turn around on the conversion of audit programmes or ke control matrices into an immediatel useable template format.

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A full+fledged spreadsheet design service is also available.

*or further details contact/ Allen Computing and Business Analsis <= >ondon 3oad 6arleston orfolk $P9? @BW Tel/ ?

Audit Working Paper Standard

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