Our Sampling Tool is for auditors who do heavy lifting when it comes to audit sampling. The Sampling Tool lets you sample in Excel, adjust your samples in Excel and keep all your documentation – including the random seed number – in Excel. The Sampling Tool can be set up to automatically have your samples ready for you after the push of a button. All you have to do is check them out and make sure they’re right.
If you need to stratify your population data not by amount but by GL accounts, business areas, groups of accounts, different risk buckets, etc., then the Sampling Tool is for you. Have as many of these things as you want. Each stratum will go in a different Excel worksheet. Get a standard, perfect format/look-and-feel in Excel every time.
Exercise your auditor judgment and tailor the random sample to fit your needs. Our Sampling Tool is a macro-enabled workbook where we automatically install the Excel VBA macro needed to perform all the functions. You simply push the buttons.
For each worksheet/stratum:
- You can edit the population data – remove pesky reversals/offsets or duplicate items
- The Removed Data section provides a documented area where unused population data can be stored
- A pivot table holds the random sample data and can automatically be updated with the push of a button
- You can change the sample size and large dollar threshold cutoff and then automatically update the random sample with the push of a button
- Summary statistics automatically update so you know exactly how much you have sampled
You can also password protect all the worksheets in your Sampling Tool workbook with the push of a button. This way you can share the workbook with your clients and colleagues. They can read and see all the content, but they can’t make changes. Get the data back exactly the way you had it. Note that this is different than password protecting a workbook where the password protection prevents someone from opening the workbook at all.
Examples
Check out some examples of our work that employ the Sampling Tool:
