Comparison of AD Active Data and ACL Audit

Comparison of AD (Active Data) and ACL (Audit Command Language) January 27, 2011 Bill. Perrone@iad. sccgov. org 408 -299 -6830 1

Overview n Background n URL’s n Characteristics n Capabilities n Summary 2

Background n n n ACL (Audit Command Language) used for 10 years. AD (Active Data) mentioned at Audit Chiefs as ACL capable for less money. Testing routine. – Each of three auditors used it. – Performed all tests on continuous auditing n n Accounts Payable ($80 M, 240 K ea per yr) Workers Comp (smaller than accounts payable) 3

URL’s ACL http: //www. acl. com/ n AD http: //www. informationactive. com/ n 4

Characteristics n ACL – File Size: No known upper limits. – Cost: About $2, 000 per license. Annual support about $400. – Training: Has on line videos and traditional classes. – Learning Curve: It takes a significant up front commitment to learn and retain. It needs to be used once per month to keep ACL skills current. 5

Characteristics (continued) n AD: – File sizes: File size depends on the version of Excel 2003 is 66, 000 records. Excel 2007 and 2010 file size is 1 M records. The website mentions ways to use files larger than 1 M records, but we did not test it. – Cost: About $300 per license and $50 per year support. – Training: AD’s website has a series of videos that run 1 to 10 minutes. They are free. – Learning Curve: A person should be an intermediate to advanced Excel user. It is easy to learn using the on line videos. 6

Capabilities n Benford’s Law: Both can do. n Basic Stats (Minimum, Maximum, Average and standard Deviation): Both can do. n Generate Samples: Both can do. n Prato: Both can do. n Identify Duplicates: Both can do. 7

Capabilities (continued) Comparing lists: Both can do, but may be more work in AD. n Extracting Data: ACL can extract data n or do analysis on the original data without changing it. AD can not extract data. n Parsing Data: ACL is strong at parsing data into fields and uses expert decision making. AD does the simple parse, but not the complex. 8

Capabilities (continued) Combine similar records from two different fields, such as combining January with February: ACL will let you override certain cell issues such as length of cells do not match. n Combine data elements of one file with another, such as insert vendor address into a list of vendors invoices based on vendor number. n 9

Summary AD does basically what ACL does. n AD cost significantly less than ACL. n AD has a file size limit that needs to be considered. n ACL has a steep learning curve. n 10