Data Analysis and Sampling Simplified: A Practical Guide for Internal Auditors

Though this is a book on data analysis and sampling, it is important that readers have a similar starting point with respect to the audit process. Every audit is different, yet all audits follow the same basic path, beginning with planning, followed by fieldwork, reporting, and follow-up. Each of the four phases of an audit has distinct activities associated with a particular phase. With respect to data analysis and sampling, it is important to appreciate that different activities occur at different stages in the audit process.

The author offers useful tips for internal auditors who are faced with a large data set wondering how to proceed, including:

• Foster your creativity and curiosity.
• Make a plan and stick to it.
• Risk is the key.
• Look at the findings of the data analysis from both the graphical/tabular and metric perspectives.
• Validate, validate, validate.
• Organize the data results.
• Always trust your knowledge, your experience, and your intuition.
• Never underestimate the value you bring to the audit.

About the Author

Donald A. Dickie, PhD, is a professional statistician who spent about a third of his career in internal auditing and the remainder in various senior executive roles with one of Canada’s largest crown corporations, thus on the receiving end as a client of internal auditors. Since 2003, he has developed and taught seminars in data analysis and sampling specifically designed for internal auditors within the federal governments of Canada and the United States as well as private sector companies throughout North America. As president of D. A. Dickie Inc., he has consulting clients within Canada and the United States and appears in court as an expert witness for sampling issues raised in forensic auditing.

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