Love the name, love the product.
This is a dream product for 'regular' auditors, like me, with a far from sophisticated IT skillset. Did you ever baulk (or blow the budget) when expected to wheel out CAATs on a sporadic basis? Despite the costly training, by the time you actually get round to using them for real, you've forgotten virtually everything you've learned and any remnants are wiped out as a big dose of panic sets in.
If this sounds familiar then you must read my interview with Charlie Walker from Reinvent Data Limited. Charlie has created TopCAATS, a suite of tools within excel, designed to be used by non-specialist auditors and accountants quite simply to make our lives easier.
Carol: So what is TopCAATs and what does it do?
Charlie: TopCAATs is a collection of Computer Aided Audit Tools that are run from within Excel. In total there are over 100 tools, all designed to help auditors and accountants in their daily lives. It provides insight into financial records; highlights risky or unusual transactions; facilitates audit testing that was previously impossible; automates manual audit testing. The bottom line is that it improves productivity, reduces costs and reduces risk.
Carol: What motivated you to develop TopCAATs?
Charlie: When I was at KPMG we used a CAATs package called IDEA. Whilst a fantastic product in the right hands, many of my colleagues found it far to complex and never really got to grips with it. Even I found it quite difficult to use, and found that I could often achieve the same results far quicker using Excel. I began experimenting with macros and VBA programming in Excel and quickly found I could save huge amounts of time. After seeing the response from some of my colleagues, I realised there was a market for a fully functional but easy to use CAATs package, so I decided to leave and write it!
Carol: Is it just a collection of macros then?
Charlie: It began as macros and VBA code in Excel, but now it’s far more than that. The original macros have been completely rewritten in C++ which gives significant improvements over VBA. We have a dedicated programming team who are always working on adding new tools and improving TopCAATs. We’re very interested in what our users have to say, and incorporate suggestions in future updates where possible.
Carol: What sort of tools are there then?
Charlie: Well, there’s over 100 in total, where to start? We’ve got duplicate testing, gap detection, exception reporting, monetary unit sampling routines, Benford’s testing, stratification, aging – all the tools you’d expect in a CAATs package. There are also 7 section modules, which we have designed to allow you to perform up to 17 tests on a specific area of the accounts all at once (e.g. Accounts payable, Assets, journal postings). We can also customise TopCAATs by adding new tools or modifying existing ones to any suit customers’ needs.
Carol: So what makes TopCAATs easier to use than other products?
Charlie: Firstly, it runs seamlessly within Excel, an environment that every auditor is already familiar with and use on a daily basis. Auditors are also generally comfortable with importing data into Excel, and many systems can export directly to Excel or text file these days. Secondly, we’ve focused on keeping the interface as simple and intuitive as possible. We use simple language, and all inputs are colour coded to guide the users. We’ve also cut out on unnecessary clutter and options which just confuse the user – and most auditors the difference between “fixed interval” and “cell selection” anyway.
Carol: So what are the training requirements then?
Charlie: The feedback we’ve had from users is that they don’t need any formal training on the technical side of TopCAATs – i.e. actually using the tools. The intuitive interface, inbuilt help, user guide and demonstration videos do their job pretty well! However, some of our customers have had training in the application of CAATs (i.e. which tests to use in which situations), particularly if they haven’t used CAATs before and have been conducting all their work manually.
Carol: Video demonstrations, what are they?
Charlie: We’ve published a series of videos which demonstrate all the TopCAATs tools being used in a variety of real world situations. These are great for introducing people to the TopCAATs tools, how they work and showing some of the things you can achieve with TopCAATs. I’d strongly recommend that anyone planning to use TopCAATs spends an hour or so watching these
Carol: So who do you see as your target market – who would benefit from TopCAATs
Charlie: TopCAATs was designed to help auditors, both internal and external and many of the tools are audit focused. However, with such a wide range of tools anyone who uses Excel on a regular basis would probably benefit from TopCAATs, and we’ve had a lot of interest from accounting clerks/assistants.
Carol: So what can IDEA and ACL do that TopCAATs can’t?
Charlie: The biggest difference was the limit on the volume of data that can be processed. Excel 2003 and previous versions are restricted to 65,534 rows but Excel 2007 can handle up to 1 million rows, more than enough for almost any report. IDEA and ACL also have native functionality for importing PDF and PRN files which TopCAATs doesn’t have (although we’re working on it for future versions). However, most systems are capable of exporting directly to Excel (or one of the many formats that Excel can natively read, such as text or csv files) this is not generally an issue
Carol: What about data integrity and audit trails?
Charlie: One of the key differences between database and spreadsheet based products is that it’s easier to change data in a spreadsheet, and this can often be done in error. We’ve taken steps to mitigate this, for example the TopCAATs tools work on a copy of the data, leaving the original unchanged. The tools also store information about the source data, tests that have been run (including the options specified), date run etc in output sheets. The section modules even include a screenshot of the input form to show exactly what tests have been run and the options specified. They also take a protected, read only copy of the source data.
Carol: Ok, so how does TopCAATs compare price wise to the other products?
Charlie: Very favourably! A single license is £199, which is
about 1/10 of the cost of our competitors, and that’s before you factor in our
competitors substantial training costs! There are also sizeable quantity
discounts available, full details of which can be found on our website. And, as
a special offer to your members we’ll give them a further 10% off – they just
need to enter the voucher code “AccCoach” on our website.
Carol: What about training and support costs?
Charlie: Well, our training videos are freely available on the website, and we offer free support through our user forums, where you can get help from not only our TopCAATs experts, but also from other users around the world. During the integration phase we offer free telephone and email support to ensure that our customers deploy TopCAATs successfully. If additional training or support is required it is priced depending on the specific needs of the customer.
Carol: You mentioned something earlier about customising TopCAATs, can you elaborate a little?
Charlie: We’re able to completely customise TopCAATs, from small changes such as changing terminology to changing calculation methods on existing tools and adding completely new tools (e.g. a customised materiality calculator based on the customers methodologies). In the past we have received requests for tools and have decided that it would actually benefit a much wider audience, so have included it in a free update for all users
Carol: Do you offer any form of guarantee?
Charlie: Well, firstly you can download a fully functional 30 day trial from our website so you can try before you buy. Secondly we’ve had so much positive feedback that we’ve just announced an amazing guarantee – if TopCAATs doesn’t deliver a 200% return on investment within 6 months, we’ll give you your money back. I don’t think we can do better than that!
Carol: Well, it sounds like TopCAATs could help a lot of auditors and accountants out there, and with your low price and incredible guarantee I’m sure it will be flying off the shelves! Don't forget to claim your exlcusive 10% discount by entering the voucher code “AccCoach”when you make your purchase.
And the name, TopCAATS?
Well if you weren't around for the 1970s re-runs of Top Cat cartoon, here's a touch of nostalgia:
Top Cat!
The most effectual Top Cat!
Who's intellectual close friends get to call him T.C.
Providing it's with dignity.
Top Cat!
The indisputable leader of the gang.
He's the boss, he's a pip, he's the championship.
He's the most tip top,
Top Cat.
Yes he's a chief, he's a king,
But above everything,
He's the most tip top,
Top Cat.
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