Arbutus Analyzer Audit Data Testing Techniques Training Course

Course overview

Audit teams often hold complete populations of transactions but test only small samples because extracting, joining, profiling and documenting data is slow or difficult. Arbutus Analyzer enables auditors to interrogate accounts payable, payroll, general ledger, procurement and revenue data directly, identifying duplicate payments, missing sequences, unusual postings, split transactions and policy exceptions. This course helps participants move from spreadsheet-led checking to repeatable, evidence-based audit testing that can be explained to audit management, process owners and external reviewers.

Participants learn how to import and validate source files, define fields and data types, profile record populations, filter and stratify records, calculate audit indicators, match files and identify exceptions. They use core Arbutus Analyzer functions including statistics, gaps, duplicates, joins, summaries, sampling, aging and scripting fundamentals. The course also addresses the audit reasoning behind each test: defining the assertion, setting criteria, documenting parameters, assessing exceptions and converting results into focused audit workpapers.

Delivery combines instructor demonstrations with guided analysis of realistic finance datasets. Each participant builds a structured audit test pack containing data validation checks, saved Arbutus scripts or commands, exception reports, sampling outputs and a concise findings summary. The final day includes an application-planning workshop so attendees leave with a prioritised test they can adapt for their own audit universe. Participants receive a certificate on completion.

The programme suits internal audit, finance assurance and controls professionals who need practical data-testing capability at foundation to intermediate level, including those moving into continuous auditing or larger-population testing.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Import audit data into Arbutus Analyzer and verify field layouts, record counts and control totals
• Profile complete transaction populations using statistics, stratification, summaries and frequency analysis
• Design duplicate-payment, sequence-gap and threshold tests using Arbutus selection criteria and commands
• Join master and transaction files to identify unmatched vendors, employees, purchase orders and ledger entries
• Calculate audit indicators such as payment aging, date differences, Benford distributions and exception flags
• Draw and evaluate random, systematic and monetary-unit samples using documented sampling parameters
• Create reusable Arbutus scripts that automate repeatable audit tests and produce consistent outputs
• Prepare an audit-ready exception report and test documentation that links objectives, criteria, results and follow-up actions

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Internal Auditors — who need to test full populations and produce defensible exception evidence
• Audit Managers — who want consistent, reusable data tests across audit engagements
• Financial Controllers — who need to investigate control failures in payables, journals and reconciliations
• Finance Analysts — who analyse high-volume financial transactions and need stronger anomaly-detection methods
• Risk and Compliance Officers — who monitor policy breaches, fraud indicators and control exceptions
• External Audit Associates — who need practical techniques for data-assisted audit procedures

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable working with tabular data and understand basic finance or audit concepts such as transactions, master data, control totals, audit evidence and exceptions. Experience with Microsoft Excel filters, formulas and pivot-style summaries is helpful because the course compares spreadsheet checks with repeatable Analyzer tests. Prior use of Arbutus Analyzer is not required; the first day establishes the interface, project structure and data-import process. Participants do not need programming experience, database-administration skills, advanced statistics or prior knowledge of ACL/HighBond. Complete beginners should expect a practical introduction followed quickly by hands-on audit testing.

Training methodology

The instructor demonstrates each Arbutus Analyzer technique using finance and audit datasets, then participants repeat the process in guided labs. Exercises progress from importing and reconciling files to testing duplicate payments, joining supplier and transaction data, analysing journals and selecting samples. Short case discussions require participants to define the audit objective, assertion and exception criteria before running a test. Small-group review sessions compare results and challenge false positives. On day five, each participant converts a workplace audit question into a documented test plan and reusable Analyzer workflow.

Course outline

Day 1: Preparing reliable audit data in Arbutus Analyzer

• Arbutus Analyzer interface, projects, tables and output management
• Importing delimited files, Excel workbooks and fixed-length data extracts
• Defining field types, dates, decimals, character fields and calculated fields
• Record counts, control totals and reconciliation to source-system reports
• Data-quality profiling using field statistics and frequency distributions
• Sorting, indexing and selecting records with logical criteria
• Documenting data lineage, assumptions and audit-test objectives

Workshop: Participants import an accounts payable extract, reconcile record counts and payment totals, and produce a documented data-validation checklist.

Day 2: Core exception testing for financial transactions

• Duplicate detection using exact-match and near-match field combinations
• Sequence and gap analysis for invoice numbers, cheque numbers and document identifiers
• Threshold testing for approval limits, unusual values and round-sum payments
• Date-based tests for weekend payments, backdating and posting-to-payment delays
• Stratification and aging analysis for risk-focused population review
• Benford analysis and distribution testing for unusual numeric patterns
• Exception flag creation and saved filtered views

Workshop: Participants build a duplicate-payment and unusual-payment test suite, producing a prioritised exception report for audit follow-up.

Day 3: Matching, joining and analysing related records

• Join methods for matching transaction files to master data
• Unmatched-record testing for suppliers, employees, purchase orders and cost centres
• Many-to-one and one-to-many relationship analysis
• Comparing current and prior-period files to identify changes
• Summarising transactions by vendor, user, account, date and approval level
• Testing split purchases and aggregate payments below approval thresholds
• Using calculated keys to standardise matching fields

Workshop: Participants join purchase order, invoice and vendor-master files to identify unmatched payments, inactive vendors and potential split purchases.

Day 4: Sampling, journal testing and repeatable automation

• Audit sampling objectives, population definition and sampling-unit selection
• Random, systematic and monetary-unit sampling in Arbutus Analyzer
• Sample documentation, seed values and reproducible selection methods
• Journal-entry testing for manual postings, unusual users and period-end activity
• Using command history and scripts to automate repeatable procedures
• Script variables, comments and parameterised audit tests
• Exporting results to Excel and preserving audit evidence

Workshop: Participants select a documented journal-entry sample, create a reusable script for period-end postings, and export a review-ready sample schedule.

Day 5: Turning test results into audit action

• Interpreting exceptions, false positives and root-cause indicators
• Linking data tests to audit assertions, risks and control objectives
• Ranking exceptions by value, frequency, control impact and investigation priority
• Designing exception report fields for process-owner follow-up
• Preparing workpaper narratives and evidence references
• Building a repeatable audit test library and naming convention
• Planning continuous-monitoring tests and refresh frequencies

Workshop: Participants complete a capstone audit test pack and present a workplace application plan covering data needed, test logic, owners, outputs and follow-up actions.

Tools & standards covered

Arbutus Analyzer, Microsoft Excel, IIA Global Internal Audit Standards, ISA 530 Audit Sampling

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions