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RPA Prototype Development Project

The document discusses the development of an RPA prototype to automate repetitive tasks in limited scope defined contribution plan audits. It identifies loan testing as an area that could benefit from automation, as it involves matching loan amounts and interest rates across data sources. The prototype collects audit evidence from sources using RPA and tests for discrepancies in Microsoft Access. It also establishes an audit data standard template to maintain consistent data labeling and formatting across engagements.

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Marcuz Aizen
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91 views1 page

RPA Prototype Development Project

The document discusses the development of an RPA prototype to automate repetitive tasks in limited scope defined contribution plan audits. It identifies loan testing as an area that could benefit from automation, as it involves matching loan amounts and interest rates across data sources. The prototype collects audit evidence from sources using RPA and tests for discrepancies in Microsoft Access. It also establishes an audit data standard template to maintain consistent data labeling and formatting across engagements.

Uploaded by

Marcuz Aizen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RPA Prototype Development Project

Identify objective.

The objective of this automation project was to increase the efficiency and enhance the effectiveness of
the limited scope defined contribution plan audits because the audit procedures in this type of
engagement consist of labor-intensive, time-consuming, and repetitive testing.

Process identification.

In this step, the authors looked into how each aspect of the substantive audit procedures in the limited
scope DC plan audits was performed. The objective was to identify the tasks that are highly repetitive,
simple, rule based, time consuming, and have machine-readable data. Based on discussions with the
auditing firm, the authors decided to focus on the testing of eligibility, personal data, and employee
loans.

In this article, loan testing is used to illustrate the RPA prototype; the prototypes for other testing follow
the same logic. In loan testing, loans to participants and the related interest are tested to determine
whether the amounts due to the plan have been properly identified, valued, recorded, and disclosed in
the financial statements.

Process understanding.

Loan testing contained several audit activities that did not require audit judgment, were time
consuming, and had to be executed across several audit engagements. These activities included the
collection and preparation of audit evidence and the performance of rules-based audit tests, including
the matching of loan amount balances and interest rates from one data source to the other. A review of
audit workpapers and discussions of the EBP subject matter revealed that many loan testing activities
could be automated using a combination of 1) Microsoft Access to program automated audit tests using
basic Structured Query Language (SQL) and 2) RPA to collect audit evidence, then use RPA to execute
the automated tests in Access.

Audit data standards.

For the RPA to be scalable, it is important to develop an audit data standard, such as the AICPA standard
referenced above, for the CPA firm’s own use. This standard is essentially a template that contains
consistent data labels and formats. Because sources of audit evidence that reflect the same values may
label and format their data differently, the objective of this standard is for the CPA firm to maintain data
in a consistent manner so that the RPA can work on numerous audit engagements.

The audit data standard, which could be in the form of an Excel file, incorporates templates for a data
dictionary, raw source data, data preparation, and its integrated structure. The data dictionary tab
describes the standard name of the audit data fields and maps it to name the data fields from the
sources. Part of the data dictionary developed in this case study is shown in Exhibit 1. For example, the
“Participant Name” column from the report “Annual Loan Balance” and the “Payee” column from the
report “Check Register” will all be converted to “Name” with the data type of “Text.”

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