Statistical Techniques

Book excerpt: Based on the continuing success of STAR, the computer-based auditing system first pioneered by Deloitte & Touche LLP almost 25 years ago, Statistical Techniques for Analytical Review in Auditing, Second Edition builds on its original text to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date, and practical guide to using this highly effective and efficient system for planning, performing, and evaluating analytical procedures. The first edition of this unrivaled work was published in 1986, following 15 years and thousands of effective applications of the STAR Program worldwide. This Second Edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect the changes required by SAS 56, and features additional practical examples and all new graphics and printouts. Without using complicated mathematics, the authors take the reader through the understanding and implementation of STAR in four stages: Beginning with a description of the audit philosophy behind its success, they provide an overview of STAR's role in analytical procedures. They then cover the basic statistical concepts of regression analysis and other statistical techniques utilized by STAR. The authors then explain the practical aspects of designing and improving STAR models and of interpreting and evaluating their results. Finally, they describe in detail the statistical tests and transformations performed by STAR and explain the mathematics behind multivariate regression. Pertinent examples are used throughout to illustrate both theory and practice. The only text currently available on this successful and widely used auditing program, Statistical Techniques for Analytical Review in Auditing, Second Edition is designed to be an invaluable resource for external as well as internal auditors involved in business, government, and nonprofit organizations. A new and updated edition of a classic text for the auditing professional STAR, the premier computer-based auditing system for performing statistical procedures, has been successfully implemented in thousands of worldwide audits. Developed by Deloitte & Touche LLP, STAR is designed to integrate statistical modeling techniques and professional judgments in a manner that is optimized for auditors. Statistical Techniques for Analytical Review in Auditing was written to explain the concepts and techniques implemented through STAR and to encourage their use by other auditors. In this new and thoroughly updated Second Edition, the authors continue to provide the audit marketplace with an important and far-reaching resource. Written from the perspective of the practitioner, Statistical Techniques for Analytical Review in Auditing, Second Edition features: An overview of the auditing environment and the role of analytical procedures Intuitively appealing, nontechnical coverage of regression analysis and other statistical techniques used in STAR Practical guidance on building and evaluating STAR applications Details of mathematical and computational technology in STAR Many practice-based examples