Overview

This course is intended to help scripters support internal audit departments and improve their testing processes, and reviews the scripting process from planning to development to interactivity and export. Participants will review the basics of data mining, including how data mining can be used to support audit initiatives. Participants will also work to hone their decision-making skills with respect to data mining and assess how audit objectives align with the data mining process.

This course covers topics associated with script planning, including file formats, file import naming conventions, import types, and associated file clean-up. Once planning is complete, this course reviews files and commands that can improve script development and efficiency. Finally, participants will review different methods and best practices for improving script interactivity, including variables, date ranges, filters, and operators. The course includes several live demonstrations that directly correlate to realworld scenarios that scripters and Internal Auditors will face in the field.

Learning Options

Below are the available learning options for this course:

AuditPro

Online On-Demand

This course is available through AuditPro — a subscription-based, on-demand learning platform. As a subscriber, you will have access to an ‘all you can watch’ library of courses that are built in alignment with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) standards.

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Enterprise Solutions

Tailored Experience

Bring this course to your organization at your convenience. ACI Learning can deliver this instructor-led course for your team at a chosen location or virtually. Alternatively, choose the topic(s) you need and ACI will craft a training solution to keep your team future-proof.

Customize your training

NASBA Certified CPE

8 Credits

Auditing

Why you should take this course

For users with an introductory knowledge of this topic, and are searching for additional information and its application.

Who should take this course

Internal and external auditors, compliance professionals and elementary scripters attempting to develop their starting scripts to support an audit department.

Prerequisites

None

1. Planning Your Data Mining Script

• Basics of Data Mining

• Questions About Data Mining

• Available File Formats

• File Naming Conventions

• Single File Import

• Multi-File Import

• Appending Multiple Files

• Clean Up, Distribution, and Security Issues

2. Developing Your Data Mining Script

• Scripting the Import: One Instance of the Data

• Excel and Access Files

• CSV and Delimited Files

• Database Files

• Flat Files

• Scripting a Multi-File Import: Directory Command

• Scripting a Multi-File Import: Looping

• To Append or Not to Append

3. Making Your Scripts Interactive

• Planning the Interactivity

• Considering the Variables

• Establishing Variables

• Variable Substitution

• Using Start and End Dates

• The Intricacies of Date Variable Formats

• Setting Up Other Fields as Filters

• Naming Results Using Variables

Plan the Data Mining Script Environment — File Location, File Naming Conventions, File Structure — for best utility.
Develop the main script and import script with a structure that enables users to filter for the data they need, which is especially important for large data repositories.
Make the scripts interactive with dialog boxes so that filters may be imposed at an early stage of the process.

ACI Learning is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org.