ACL Scripts

Using ACL Scripts Georgia Department of Audits

Education Audit Division

Kristina A. Turner, CPA, CISADeputy Director

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Georgia Department of Audits

Education Audit Division (EAD) Our Responsibility Our Organization

ACL In Action Planning Analytical Procedures Review of Financial Statement Mappings Fraud Toolkit Other Uses Common Scripting Tools & Commands Functions

Overview

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Performance of Financial Engagements for:

State CAFR State Colleges (35 and Cognizant Agency) State Technical Colleges (25 and Cognizant

Agency) Includes Audits & Other Types of Engagements

Local Boards of Education (155) – Financial Audits

Charter Schools (2) – Financial Audits

EAD – Our Responsibility

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EAD – Our Organization• Headquarters – Atlanta• 8 Regional Offices• 106 Allotted Positions;

• 8 frozen positions• 89 Auditors in the Field• 9 Responsible for Planning,

Training, Report Processing

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2 licenses in each regional office Each office has an “IT Liaison” responsible for

day to day usage questions related to ACL and other applications used by EAD.(1 license assigned to the liaison)

Other license is used by other auditors Network version is available

EAD – ACL in Action

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Licenses for Planning Team members Scripts are created and maintained at this

level based on needs identified by Deputy Directors and Audit Supervisors

Currently knowledge of scripting resides with two individuals

EAD – ACL in Action

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Became a significant tool to the audit process

in 2001 Initial use:

Converting .txt and print files to Excel Retrieving Statistical Information for a dataset Stratifying datasets for target testing Pulling Samples

EAD – ACL in Action

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Evolution

EAD collected Financial data from local Board of Education

Software System at the Board determine how files were received PC Genesis – GA Dept. of Education developed

application for districts – 8 files Other Vendors – Using a standard format

developed by EAD – 2 files

EAD – ACL in Action

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Goals for Scripting

Creation of Planning Information for audit Trial Balances Materiality Individually Significant Items Preliminary Analytical Review

Prior Year to Current Year Comparison By Account Exceptions Identified based on Pre-Defined Thresholds

Comparison of Summary Data to Detail Data Detail Transaction History Identification of Anomalies/Target Testing Transactions

EAD – ACL In Action

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Auditors linked in the files received from the

Local Boards of Education After prompting ACL to process the scripts, the

auditors had 20+ output files in less than 5 minutes.

Method to Scripting Used arithmetic, functions, joins, summarization, etc.

to create a standard ACL table for analysis With standard tables, scripts were developed to

produce output files Separate Scripts based on Function (21)

EAD – ACL In Action

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EAD - Audit Toolkit

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Assign Variables

ASSIGN variable_name = value <IF test> Define New Fields

DEFINE FIELD field_name COMPUTED expression < IF test >

Sort SORT ON {key_field <D>} <...n> TO tablename <IF

test> Summarize

SUMMARIZE <ON> key_field <...n> <SUBTOTAL field <...n>> <OTHER field <...n>><TO SCREEN|table_name|PRINT> <IF test>

Common Scripting Tools & Commands

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Extract information into Another Table for Analysis

EXTRACT {RECORD | FIELDS field_name <...n> | ALL} TO filename <IF test>

Export to External Software like Excel EXPORT <FIELDS> field_name <AS export_name> <...n>

export_type TO filename <IF test> Join Tables based on Like Key to use records from both tables

JOIN <PRIMARY|BOTH|SECONDARY|PRIMARY SECONDARY|UNMATCHED|MANY>PKEY primary_key_fields FIELDS primary_fields SKEY secondary_key_field<WITH secondary_fields> <IF test> <WHILE test> <{FIRST|NEXT} range>TO table_name

Save Log to File SAVE LOG <SESSION> AS file_name ASCII|HTML <OK>

Common Scripting Tools & Commands

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ALLTRIM(string) BETWEEN(value, min, max) CLEAN (string, extra invalid characters) SUBSTR(string, start, length) VALUE(string, decimals) ROUND(number)

Functions

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Dynamic Scripting

Files from Ga. Dept. of Education for all districts Needed method for identifying Individual Entity

information within the Script Two methods:

If data is included in the file, in the script, set a variable equal to the entity

If the data is not included, prompt the user for the information.

EAD – ACL In Action

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User Entry

DIALOG (DIALOG TITLE "User Dialog" WIDTH 335 HEIGHT 172 ) (BUTTONSET TITLE "&OK;&Cancel" AT 240 24 DEFAULT 1 ) (RADIOBUTTON TITL

Do Command IF CHECKBOX1 = T DO

A_Create_Trial_Balance IF CHECKBOX2 = T DO

B_Create_SNA IF CHECKBOX3 = T DO

C_Create_SRECNA IF CHECKBOX4 = T DO

D_Create_Budget IF CHECKBOX4 = T DO

E_College_Budget_to_Actuals

EAD - ACL In Action

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Technical Colleges – Excel Macro Mapping Process College – PeopleSoft Nvision School Districts – GDOE developed Web

application

Using Document Crosswalks from the Books to the Financial Statements, ACL creates a set of preliminary Financial Statements

This is compared to Entity’s Financial Statements

Financial Statement Mapping Test

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We use the Fraud Toolkit issued by Ekaros Analytics.

Fraud Toolkit

We developed a P-Card Fraud Toolkit.

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Other Uses

Testing Allocation Process Tuition & Fees in Banner Grant/Expense Allocations in PeopleSoft

Grant Confirmations from PeopleSoft Data

EAD – ACL In Action