New audit data standard addresses inventory subledger

A new audit data standard issued by the AICPA Assurance Services Executive Committee addresses the inventory subledger and is intended to accommodate basic analysis of the inventory process.

Through its Emerging Assurance Technologies Task Force, the Assurance Services Executive Committee is developing audit data standards designed to make the acquisition of data more efficient and effective through standardization of the format for fields and files commonly requested for audits and other purposes.

Although use of the audit data standards is voluntary, public and private companies can benefit from applying them. Standardizing the data that auditors regularly request allows companies to replicate the information request process, reducing the time and effort needed to provide data to auditors.

Companies also can analyze the standardized data for internal purposes, and external auditors can more easily perform enhanced data analytics on data that are standardized.

The inventory subledger standard is designed to help auditors acquire the data that they need to perform their analysis as part of an audit. The new standard should be used in conjunction with the base standard for audit data standards, which was developed in 2015.

—Ken Tysiac (Kenneth.Tysiac@aicpa-cima.com) is a JofA editorial director.