Audit Toolbox: Accounts Payable (ACL version)

The AP Audit Toolbox requires ACL version 14.x to run, as the OUTLIERS command that was introduced in version 14 is used extensively in the code. However, the code checks for your ACL version and comments out any uses of the OUTLIERS command, so a subset of the analytics may still run with prior ACL versions.

Note: because you receive the source code/logic upon purchase, you could modify the code to work with ACL versions prior to v14 using methods other than the OUTLIERS command for pertinent analytics or reports.

The AP Audit Toolbox will work with practically any financial system data! Dave Coderre coded the ACL scripts to use three data files (invoices, users, and vendors) with certain required fields named a certain way. Using field mapping guidance provided in the product’s setup and user guide, preparation is fairly simple: for example, make sure the “vendor name” field in your data is called “Vendor”, make sure the unique vendor ID field (“vendor number” or “vendor ID”) is called “Vend_No”, etc.

Note: currently, the separation of duties analytics evaluate based on SAP TCodes, so if your financial system is not SAP, some customization may be needed on the SOD Matrix (an Excel spreadsheet provided with the AP Audit Toolbox product).

Dave Coderre coded the scripts to evaluate which of the source data fields were provided and which were missing upon import. So, if data is available for a given test/report, it will run; if the data is not available (that is, the field was not present at all in the source data file), the test or report simply will not run (and a separate report will be provided after the run indicating which tests or reports could not be run due to lack of data!). Some fields are absolutely required, but many are optional if you are okay with getting a subset of the tests or reports.

Technically, some source data files can be omitted entirely, again with limited results upon completion of the run. Only the invoices data file must be present for the AP Audit Toolbox to run. If user and/or vendor files are not provided in the source data, the scripts will run with only results for the invoice-related data.

Yes, the AP Audit Toolbox was built by Dave Coderre largely for his own use with consulting customers, and the scripts have evolved over the decades. Upon purchase, you will receive the ACL scripts with full ability to customize them as needed for your organization. You may add, remove, or change tests or reports, modify the user interfaces, and pretty much anything you want to do. This product is intended to give you a great set of tests/reports without having to spend many years developing the logic. If you need to put in a bit of development time to make them fit your situation better, go for it (or ask us for assistance through our Auditopia Services area using https://auditopia.com/contact-us/.

Even if you do not customize the code itself, we have many ways to customize the parameters and how you analyze your data. Those parameters can be changed at runtime or the default parameters can be changed permanently by simply editing an Excel spreadsheet or text file.

The AP Audit Toolbox does not use the EXECUTE command in any of the current code. A draft findings statement is created using Word’s mail merge functionality, but steps are documented in the setup and user guide with instructions on how to utilize that tool with the output produced by the AP Audit Toolbox.

The AP Audit Toolbox comes with a setup and user guide, detailing instructions for preparing source data, entering appropriate parameters and configuration settings for your organization, running the analytics, checking for data integrity, and understanding the output. The setup and user guide also provides guidance on how to set up visualization reporting in Excel and Tableau (along with 10 example reports already set up to use your results!) and the Word document findings statement complete with objective, criteria, condition, impact, verification steps, and recommendations.

Auditopia provides up to 2 hours of free setup support to ensure a smooth starting experience. Additional hours of support are available for purchase easily through the Auditopia.com store or by contacting us at https://auditopia.com/contact-us/.

The setup and user guide provided upon purchase of the AP Audit Toolbox contains a list of the required fields to run all the tests and reports. We do not currently have a matrix or other document showing the required fields by test/report, but that has been suggested to us and we are working on it!

The .zip file downloadable upon purchase on Auditopia.com has the ACL project file and all necessary support files, including some example data and visualization files for Excel and Tableau. Dave Coderre worked hard to note the needed fields listed in the setup and user guide. Those listed fields should help with streamlining runtime, due to not having a lot of fields you don't need being imported, enabling the AP Audit Toolbox to work relatively efficiently even with large datasets from SAP or other systems.

We have tested the AP Audit Toolbox product using multiple datasets of different sizes. We do not have any formal benchmarks, but our testing has shown an estimated 500,000 invoices processes on a basic laptop in around 10-15 minutes consistently. Dave Coderre’s use of GROUP commands and other logic picked up over several decades to help the code run efficiently in many areas.

Of course, many factors go into making performance faster or slower in a given environment, but this is the best guidance we can give for now. If your runs of the AP Audit Toolbox are taking considerably longer to complete, please let us know and we will help as best we can.

We do have a list of all the AP Audit Toolbox tests and reports within the setup and user guide, which is provided upon purchase. But, we realize many people would like to see what they would be buying beforehand! So, we will make the list of tests and reports available soon, either directly on the product page at Auditopia.com or elsewhere with a reference on the AP Audit Toolbox product page.

The AP Audit Toolbox creates dozens of delimited text files as unformatted output. This allows users to work with great flexibility in tools such as Excel and various visualization tools like Power BI and Tableau. Out of the box, the AP Audit Toolbox product provides a start with visualization reporting in Excel and Tableau (10 example reports already set up to use your results!...just run the scripts and open the example Excel or Tableau file) and the Word document findings statement complete with objective, criteria, condition, impact, verification steps, and recommendations.

We do not currently have the option for selective test runs. That feature has been suggested to us and Dave has other logic with such options in a DIALOG command, so this is likely something we will add in a future version of the AP Audit Toolbox. We strive toward overall efficiency with runtime and limiting unneeded output, which makes this feature perfect if someone only needs a few tests run. Remember, the code is yours to customize upon purchase, so you could add your own DIALOG box or other options for selectively running tests before we get to it!