An assessment of the purpose of the use of Generalised Audit Software:A perspective of Internal Audit Functions in Australia

Modern day internal audit functions have to execute its duties in control environments that are increasingly dominated by technology and "big data". Internal audit functions are therefore encouraged to use technology-based tools such as GAS in the execution of their duties in an effort to respond to its various stakeholders' needs and expectations in an efficient and effective manner. GAS comes with a number of different functionalities that the internal auditor can use. This paper explores the purpose of the use of GAS as a data analytics tool by internal audit functions in Australia. The research results indicate that respondents are utilising GAS for a variety of purposes. The top five purposes for which the respondents make use of GAS often to always during separate internal audit engagements are: (1) for conducting full population analyses; (2) to identify transactions with specific characteristics or control criteria for tests of controls purposes; (3) to evaluate fraud risks; (4) to obtain audit evidence about control effectiveness; and (5) for selecting random samples for tests of controls purposes from key electronic files.