1. ACL Scripts Using ACL Scripts Georgia Department of Audits
Education Audit Division
Kristina A. Turner, CPA, CISA
Deputy Director

2. Overview 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

3. EAD – Our Responsibility
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

4. 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

5. EAD – ACL in Action 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

6. EAD – ACL in Action 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

7. EAD – ACL in Action
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

8. EAD – ACL in Action 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

9. EAD – ACL In Action 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

10. EAD – ACL In Action
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)

11. EAD - Audit Toolkit

12. Common Scripting Tools & Commands
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>

13. Common Scripting Tools & Commands
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>

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

15. EAD – ACL In Action 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.

16. EAD - ACL In Action User Entry Do Command
DIALOG (DIALOG TITLE "User Dialog" WIDTH 335 HEIGHT 172 ) (BUTTONSET TITLE "&OK;&Cancel" AT 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

17. Financial Statement Mapping Test
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

18. Fraud Toolkit We developed a P-Card Fraud Toolkit.
We use the Fraud Toolkit issued by Ekaros Analytics.

19. EAD – ACL In Action Other Uses Testing Allocation Process
Tuition & Fees in Banner
Grant/Expense Allocations in PeopleSoft
Grant Confirmations from PeopleSoft Data