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	<title>ACL compliance, audit, governance &#38; risk software—data analytics and cloud-based GRC management</title>
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	<link>http://www.acl.com</link>
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		<title>&quot;How would you kick start data analytics?&quot; ACL LinkedIn Group</title>
		<link>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/22/how-would-you-kick-start-data-analytics/</link>
		<comments>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/22/how-would-you-kick-start-data-analytics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 15:45:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ACL Insider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Auditing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fraud Detection and Prevention]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.acl.com/?p=3031</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
    Are you part of the ACL LinkedIn Community? Our group is a great place to share and exchange best practices for the use of data analytics across various industries and lines of business. One of the most popular discussions we&#8217;ve seen lately is this one, started by Andrew Fitzgibbon, Regional Audit Director, Japan Tobacco International: &#8220;How would you kick start audit data analytics? How would you inspire new ACL users? Where would you send them looking for the first easy win to hook them, before enticing them into more challenging waters?&#8221; Our members had plenty of tips and advice in response to this thought-provoking question. Here are some of the highlights (excerpted with permission from the authors): From DJ Elmore, Data Analytics Consultant, NY: &#8220;I cut my teeth on journal entries but AP or T&#38;E are two of the classic ‘low hanging fruit’ areas. Like any new challenge, a good coach or experienced guide who has navigated the rough waters (pick your analogy: hiked the trail, climbed the mountain, run the race &#8230;) increases the odds that the neophyte will not turn back nor fail to recognize multiple definitions of success. Proper scoping, acquiring data, understanding data relationships, loading data, the right questions to ask of the data, correct coding logic, interpreting results, presenting results&#8211;these are all hurdles that can send those new to analytics running back to IT provided samples and spreadsheets. A good coach not only inspires and encourages but creates a vision and instills the good habits (methodology) that will achieve it.&#8221; From Andrew Monroe, ACL Certified Contractor:  &#8220;Other business areas can also include Accounts Receivable (AR) and other areas of General Ledger (GL) (sales or marketing expenses, for example). Some of my best &#8220;conversions&#8221; have been with people who have had a &#8216;burning need&#8217; that is not being met (by existing reports or new development from IT, for example). An allegation of fraud that needs investigation is a good example, and there is simply no other way to get to interrogate data. Another source of success can be found with people who are frustrated when audit samples disqualify audit points; and now they want to review 100% of the data. A third place is &#8216;going where no man has gone before&#8217; &#8211; with new data from a new business area. Medical payment data is one example (hard to obtain, I know). ACL then becomes the go-to tool, instead of just one of several. This last one can be a big challenge and maybe not for newbies. All of these have been sources of success for me, including DJ Elmore&#8217;s suggestions, above.&#8221; From Sandra Clements, Audit Relationship Manager, Arrowpoint Capital, and Head of the Charlotte, NC ACL User Group: “Another way is to pull data from disparate systems, for instance, if you have two different payment systems such as AP and your claim payment system. Then perform duplicate payments, inevitably you will find dupes and this will show the power of ACL. Also, security access compared to HR files&#8230;there&#8217;s always exceptions to that one, especially if you&#8217;re using large data files.” From Thomas Bergasse- Milhé, Manager Risk Monitoring, Canada Post: &#8220;Your staff first needs to understand why and when they need to use ACL (or any other audit tools). From my own experience, inspiring people on how to use audit analytics has a lot to do with how management is presenting the subject; the approach needs to be very positive so that people are not scared to leave their comfort zone. As soon as you have a few success stories in your department you should see the interest in audit analytics grow!&#8221; Where would you send them looking for the first easy win to hook them, before enticing them into more challenging waters? Classic areas to start with: -AP Duplicates Payments: It&#8217;s a good one to start as you can find direct recoveries that can help &#8220;justify&#8221; your investment. It&#8217;s also usually pretty easy and fast!) -Travel Expenses: An interesting area because you can use most of the audit tool&#8217;s functionality: Full text search, joins, summarize, crosstabs, etc. It&#8217;s a good one for learning ACL.) -P-Card: Another classic one, though it can be a bit more complicated that T&#38;E because the data is usually not as good. -Plant audits: Operational audits usually generate more interest than compliance audits. You could perform analysis on your plant production data (Overtime, Hours worked, Volume, etc). -Conflict of interest (vendor to employee).&#8221; From Porter Broyles, Some Clown Consulting: &#8220;AP and TE are two ripe areas because not only provide low hanging fruits, but those low hanging fruits are usually tied directly to specific dollars and you can often trace those dollars to specific root causes/problems. If you work in insurance, there is an area that I think is even easier and more ripe for analysis: Claims payments. Duplicate Claims are easier to identify that duplicate payments elsewhere. With claims you have all of the component pieces you need to identify a duplicate spelled out for you&#8212;who the insured was, who provided the service, what date the service was provided, how much was paid, and what the service was. Other easy issues include was the covered insured at the time of service? Was the paid amount the correct amount? IF you work in insurance, this is probably the easiest place to get quick easy wins. Are claims paid in a timely manner? If not are you paying penalties right? (Look at how much is being paid in penalties and interest and see if you are paying the same penalty/interest over and over again.)&#8221; From Rich Lanza, Owner, Cash Recovery Partners, LLC: &#8220;I think it is best to save money and focus on how to do that in various ways. To start the analysis, there is no better place than the accounts payable invoice distribution ledger with the general / nominal account coding and summarize it to see where the company is spending, where there may be sole source relationships, where you may have 500 vendors [...]]]></description>
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		<title>ACL Launches ACL™ Analytics 10; Powerful Analysis Software Enables Data-Driven GRC Management</title>
		<link>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/22/acl-launches-acl-analytics-10-powerful-analysis-software-enables-data-driven-grc-management/</link>
		<comments>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/22/acl-launches-acl-analytics-10-powerful-analysis-software-enables-data-driven-grc-management/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 13:55:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ACL Press</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Data Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Data Analytics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.acl.com/?p=3028</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
    Software Tool Makes Big Data Analysis More Accessible to Users Across the Organization VANCOUVER, May 21, 2013 &#8211; ACL announced today the release of ACL™ Analytics version 10 (formerly known as ACL™ Desktop), a powerful, cost effective solution that can analyze any data source. It allows a broad group of users, including risk, compliance, audit, IT and financial control professionals, to uncover business risk in organizational data and gain deeper insight. Integration with the forthcoming ACL™ GRC solution will enable data-driven governance, risk and compliance (GRC) management. This new release focuses on improved performance to address the explosive growth and significance of Big Data within organizations. New features driven by customer demand give organizations increased power to avoid waste, inefficiency, fraud, compliance violations and corresponding financial penalties, while illustrating opportunities from statistical insight: GRC integration with the forthcoming ACL GRC, a cloud-based solution that highlights and quantifies risk, enabling data-driven GRC management by connecting data analysis results to enterprise risks Faster processing and improved performance turns minutes into seconds, as commonly-used features and analysis functions are 30% faster New capabilities include: New “EXECUTE” command gives users the ability to trigger third-party software with automated ACL Analytics scripts Native Date &#038; Time Data Types with 17 new functions—date and time data displays exactly the way it is stored in the source data set, saving time and hassle New multiple table comparison functionality allows users to toggle between data tables “It is crucial to detect transactional inconsistencies as soon as possible in order to report the problem to the appropriate people and enact a quick solution,” said ACL customer Jeremy Clopton, Managing Consultant, Forensics and Valuation Services at BKD, LLP. “I applaud ACL for providing a means to better connect transaction-level analysis to corporate risks.” “Our product teams have really listened to customer feedback in order to advance the capabilities of ACL’s product offerings,” said Keith Cerny, Vice President, Research &#038; Development at ACL. “We have increased R&#038;D investment in our core products and see immense value in progressing our integrated, end-to-end technologies.” Supporting resources: • To learn more about ACL Analytics, visit: www.acl.com/analytics • For the latest news and views on compliance, risk, fraud and audit, visit www.acl.com/blog • Follow @ACLServices on Twitter • Join ACL on LinkedIn www.acl.com/LinkedIn • Like ACL on Facebook www.facebook.com/ACLServices]]></description>
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		<title>ACL Selected As Finalist For BCTIA Technology Impact Awards</title>
		<link>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/17/acl-selected-as-finalist-for-bctia-technology-impact-awards/</link>
		<comments>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/17/acl-selected-as-finalist-for-bctia-technology-impact-awards/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 17:26:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ACL Press</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BCTIA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Impact Awards]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.acl.com/?p=3020</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
    VANCOUVER, May 9, 2013 &#8211; ACL, together with customer CHC Helicopter, has been selected as a finalist in the “Adoption of Technology” category for this year’s BCTIA (British Columbia Technology Industry Association) Technology Impact Awards. ACL was chosen for the way its cloud-based GRC solution helped CHC Helicopter, the world’s largest helicopter services company, streamline its business processes and facilitate a more efficient global workflow. The theme of the awards, &#8216;BC&#8217;s Mark on the World&#8217;, recognizes finalists that are viewed as innovators in British Columbia across a wide range of technologies, including enterprise software, telecommunications, hardware, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. As one of only two finalists in the category, ACL technology enabled CHC’s global internal audit team to increase productivity by 15% and cut software costs by 60%. CHC has also realized the following benefits: Global teamwork through enhanced interaction among CHC’s workforce of 4,300 people in 30 countries Mobile working on-the-go with native mobile capability Click-of-a-button reporting via standardized, automated audit reports Quicker workflow and less email, as all communications are now contained within ACL technology Reliable, cloud-based availability Secure collaboration with external stakeholders who have responded enthusiastically to the new technology “Congratulations to ACL and CHC Helicopter on their successful collaboration,” said Bill Tam, President and CEO of BCTIA. “It clearly demonstrates that forging a home-team advantage and adopting local technology solutions can deliver significant impact for global organizations like CHC.” Winners will be announced at the 20th Anniversary of the Technology Impact Awards, to be held at the Vancouver Convention Centre—West Building on June 6th. To learn more, visit www.thetias.com. ### Supporting resources: • To learn more about ACL, visit: www.acl.com • For the latest news and views on compliance, risk, fraud and audit, visit www.acl.com/blog • Follow @ACLServices on Twitter • Join ACL on LinkedIn www.acl.com/LinkedIn • Like ACL on Facebook www.facebook.com/ACLServices]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/17/acl-selected-as-finalist-for-bctia-technology-impact-awards/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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		<title>Top 25 Analytic Tests for Every Organization: Test 3 GL &#8211; Journal Entries with Outlier amounts</title>
		<link>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/16/top-25-analytic-tests-for-every-organization-test-3-gl-journal-entries-with-outlier-amounts/</link>
		<comments>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/16/top-25-analytic-tests-for-every-organization-test-3-gl-journal-entries-with-outlier-amounts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 22:21:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phil Lim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Top 25 Analytic Tests]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.acl.com/?p=3016</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
    Last time we targeted potential outliers in a specific GL account. This time, we&#8217;ll look at broadening our reach by applying statistical analysis across the whole field of GL accounts! To do this, we want to figure out what would be the typical sized posting to each account, and look for unusually sized postings. Now, some accounts will inherently have a large range of sized transactions posted to them, but some will have a very narrow range. We&#8217;ll take this into consideration when we identify our outliers. Applying outlier analysis can reveal the transactions that are &#8216;unusual&#8217;. Instead of applying a hard threshold (there are probably many Journal Entries larger and smaller than $500K in your General Ledger), we can analyze the trends of all your accounts to highlight transactions that might require additional scrutiny. These transactions are unusual because their amounts deviate vastly from the expected amounts posted to the account. Word of warning, the test steps do get a bit dicey, so a little background in statistics might help in understanding. Risk Posted Entries may not be authorized or valid. Test Select journal entries that deviate more than two standard deviations from the average posted amount to the account. Definitions (GL) Account : General Ledger Account that the journal entry is applied against (e.g. Accounts Payable, Payroll Expense, Fixed Assets &#8211; Property) Posted Amount : Amount of the journal entry applied to the account Test Steps Obtain a dump of all the journal entries from within the audit period you want to review See tips on how to do this from the previous Top 25 test Import the Journal Entry data into ACL Analytics using the import wizard Calculate the average posted amount for each GL account: Summarize on GL Account, subtotaling on Posted Amount Define a computed field for Account Average Posted Amount as sum of Posted Amount/COUNT Calculate the standard deviation of posted amounts for each GL account: Relate the journal entry table with the summarized table from step 3 Define a computed field for the Deviation of each transaction (difference between the Account Average Posted Amount and Posted Amount) Define a computed field for the Variance (Deviation of each transaction squared) Summarize on GL Account, subtotaling on Variance Define a computed field for Account Standard Deviation Posted Amount (square root of sum of Variance/COUNT) Relate the journal entry table with the Standard Deviation table Identify journal entries that deviate from the average posted amount by more than 2 standard deviations Extract records where the ABS(Deviation) &#62; Account Standard Deviation Posted Amount * 2 (The 2 represents 2 standard deviations as the outlier threshold. You can adjust this to taste) Alternatively, here&#8217;s an ACL Script pre-built to do all of this. Just open your journal entry table and run it!]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>ACL Analytics: Beyond Audit</title>
		<link>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/13/acl-analytics-beyond-audit/</link>
		<comments>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/13/acl-analytics-beyond-audit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 May 2013 17:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rob Luu</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business Assurance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.acl.com/?p=2960</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
    Hello ACL Community! As we continue to Transform Audit &#38; Risk, let’s perform some tests that are outside of audit. Here’s one in particular that I’ve recently worked on that I found interesting: We used ACL to help the Fabrication Cost Accounting team of a large manufacturing organization calculate and report on variances of item purchase prices on PO’s vs. standard cost prices listed in their inventory management system, for all GL entries that indicated a variance. The analysis involved their Financial data containing GL entries, Operational data containing their inventory management details, and Purchase Order/Sales Order data. Why do we report on this? There are variances in the price at which parts were purchased due to a number of reasons, for example, a one-time purchase at 1000% of the usual cost per item. When budgeting and forecasting, the Cost Accounting team is required identify/report on these variances and ensure “credits” are issued to accurately reflect the cost of inventory. Currently… The Cost Accounting team is required to look in the GL to identify a variance greater than a certain amount, drill down on details to retrieve PO and part numbers, and contact the controller of the business unit to request for justification of the variance. This process can take a whole day to review a few GL accounts and up to 3 weeks to get a resolution! Now, what if… • You could review ALL GL accounts and report on the variances? • You could proactively identify the (common) root cause of the variance, and point the controller where to look? • You could identify where variances have cascaded down to other subsidiaries or business units? • You replicated this analysis for different types of variances? (ie. Work Orders) Imagine what else you could uncover just by analyzing your Financial data against your Operational details…]]></description>
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		<title>Top 25 Analytic Tests for Every Organization: Test 2 Stratification of GL Accounts</title>
		<link>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/06/top-25-analytic-tests-for-every-organization-test-2-stratification-of-gl-accounts/</link>
		<comments>http://www.acl.com/2013/05/06/top-25-analytic-tests-for-every-organization-test-2-stratification-of-gl-accounts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 May 2013 21:08:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phil Lim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Top 25 Analytic Tests]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.acl.com/?p=2931</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
    Have you been following our Top 25 Tests for Analytic Superheroes series? The next article comes to us from trusty “ACL Sidekick” Phil Lim. This time, we’re focusing on stratification of GL accounts. Risk Posted Entries may not be authorized or valid. Test  Stratify a particular general ledger account to look for journal entries that are outside of the normal range of values posted to the account. Scenario We&#8217;re testing the same risk as with Dan&#8217;s first analytic, but this time, we&#8217;re looking at the posted amount instead of the description associated with the journal entry. Let&#8217;s say that your typical payroll expense is about $4M per month, in bi-weekly cycles. There&#8217;s a journal entry to post between the payroll sub-ledger and the general ledger twice a month, so the vast majority of your transactions to the payroll expense account will be around $2M. What if one day there was a journal entry of about $500K to the payroll expense account? Your spidey senses would be tingling! As a super-auditor, wouldn&#8217;t you want to ensure that the posting was properly authorized and appropriate? We can use stratification to highlight transactions that are &#8216;unusual&#8217; and might require additional scrutiny. These transactions are unusual because their amounts deviate vastly from the expected amounts posted to the account. Definitions (GL) Account: General Ledger Account that the journal entry is applied against (e.g. Accounts Payable, Payroll Expense, Fixed Assets &#8211; Property) Posted Amount: Amount of the journal entry applied to the account Test Steps Obtain a dump of all the journal entries from within the audit period you want to review See tips on how to do this from the previous Top 25 test Import the Journal Entry data into ACL Desktop using the import wizard Filter for a specific GL account. Select a GL account whose entries you believe should fall within a typical range e.g. payroll expense, depreciation, lease payments You may also want to filter for only certain transaction types, for example accrual entries, intercompany postings, etc. How you do this will depend on your accounting application system. Apply the STATISTICS command on the posted amount so that ACL can determine the minimum and maximum values Apply the ACL STRATIFY command to visualize the frequency of transactions within each strata ACL Superhero Sidekick Says: Use the Graph tab when stratifying to review the distribution visually! Notice something unusual? Drill-in to the details! Clicking on one of the strata will take you to the transaction details. Conclusion General investigative approaches like stratification can highlight risks that you may not have been aware of when building an audit plan, and it doesn&#8217;t have to be a major time-drain. Adjustments made by corporate accounting might not be communicated to the process owners. Also, you don&#8217;t have to limit yourself to General Ledger. Consider this approach for payables sub-ledgers or detailed payroll transactions. What&#8217;s Next We knock out the bad-guys en-masse using the super-weapon of statistical outlier analysis! Shazam! Missed the first test in the series? Check out Suspicious Journal Entries.]]></description>
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		<title>Baystate Health Inc. Uses ACL™ Analytics Exchange to Identify $2.5M in Lost Revenue and Saves $18M in Cost-Avoidance</title>
		<link>http://www.acl.com/2013/04/30/baystate-health-inc-uses-acl-analytics-exchange-to-identify-2-5m-in-lost-revenue-and-saves-18m-in-cost-avoidance/</link>
		<comments>http://www.acl.com/2013/04/30/baystate-health-inc-uses-acl-analytics-exchange-to-identify-2-5m-in-lost-revenue-and-saves-18m-in-cost-avoidance/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:57:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ACL Press</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Analytics Exchange]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Baystate Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Connections]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.acl.com/?p=2921</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
    Automated Continuous Auditing Technology Streamlines Healthcare-Specific Revenue Processes ATLANTA, April 30, 2013 &#8211; ACL announced today at the sold-out ACL Connections 2013 customer conference that Baystate Health, a Massachusetts-based healthcare system and employer of more than 10,000 people, has uncovered $2.5 million in lost revenue and saved $18 million in cost-avoidance in just two years by preventing duplicate payments and correcting inaccurate billing functions through use of ACL™ Analytics Exchange (AX). As data management and storage has emerged as an increasingly vital facet of the healthcare industry, Baystate recognized that its auditors were in need of faster data processing and automated analytics that could be scheduled at regular intervals, in order to manage the organization’s growing volumes of data. The Audit Services team found ACL technology as a solution that would provide a higher level of automation and efficiency. Baystate began using AX to automate data investigations in several key areas, including the implementation of a new daily Accounts Payable (AP) test, which identifies potential duplicates before the payments are made. In addition, the Baystate auditors have developed a unique analytic process that compares data between physician and hospital billing systems to pinpoint lost revenues in the Cardiac Catheter Lab, a department in which the detection and correction of problems carries a substantial financial impact. “ACL enables us to regularly perform risk-based investigations in business areas that might otherwise be audited every five or ten years,” said Baystate Audit Services Manager, Gail Hormats. “There’s no longer a need for manual analysis, so business-specific controls can be handed off to stakeholders, leaving our auditors free to monitor remediation activities and make technical changes as necessary.” The internal audit team at Baystate also uses ACL software to support analysis work for the company’s external auditors, conducting annual searches for unrecorded liabilities and performing a monthly General Ledger roll forward. “Healthcare systems have extremely specific and complex revenue processes, which intersect various business practices and departments,” said Laurie Schultz, President and CEO of ACL. “Continuous auditing and monitoring technologies seamlessly integrate these processes across different systems to ensure accurate analyses and reporting.” To read the full case study, visit www.acl.com/portfolio/baystate-health-inc. Supporting resources: • To learn more about ACL Analytics Exchange, click here • For the latest news and views on compliance, risk, fraud and audit, click here • Follow @ACLServices on Twitter • Join ACL on LinkedIn www.acl.com/LinkedIn • Like ACL on Facebook www.facebook.com/ACLServices]]></description>
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		<title>Optimizing Script Performance Part 4: To PRESORT or not to PRESORT (that is the scripting question)</title>
		<link>http://www.acl.com/2013/04/19/optimizing-script-performance-part-4-to-presort-or-not-to-presort-that-is-the-scripting-question/</link>
		<comments>http://www.acl.com/2013/04/19/optimizing-script-performance-part-4-to-presort-or-not-to-presort-that-is-the-scripting-question/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kevin Legere</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Auditing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ACL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Join]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PRESORT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scripting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Summarize]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.acl.com/?p=2822</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
    This is part four of an ongoing series on Optimizing Script Performance &#8211; part three focused on Keyword Searches. Hello my fellow scripting friends! I hope you are ready for some more tips and tricks in the world of data analytics…so let&#8217;s get right to it. Today, we are going back to the basics as we investigate the often used (and misused) PRESORT command. When trying to get the most out of your analytics the PRESORT (or less common SECSORT) command is often overlooked. While scripting in ACL Analytics, it is easy to just leave in the PRESORT command every time you SUMMARIZE, JOIN, CLASSIFY…etc. Is this the best thing to do, or are we doing this out of sheer laziness? I&#8217;m going with laziness (at least for me)…although we can mask our laziness by calling it &#8216;selective scripting&#8217;&#8230;yeah that sounds better. When I plan out a script, I usually like to think of the series of commands that I will need to achieve my goal. When writing my script, I often neglect digging too much into the logic and just leave PRESORT in most of my commands (it is way easier to just leave it there than to think about it!). This sounds like a great idea; however, you may be severely impacting the performance of your script. As an example, let us look at a scenario using SUMMARIZE followed by a JOIN on the same key field. If your data is already sorted on the key field, you can leave the PRESORT out of both commands. If the data has not been sorted, you can add PRESORT to the SUMMARIZE command and leave it out of the JOIN command (assuming of course that you are joining the summarized table). The PRESORT command will create a temporary sorted table in the background to work from – if you are unnecessarily using PRESORT then you will be waiting longer to get your results (this is especially true when you have large data files). I have to admit that I&#8217;ve often been guilty of leaving the PRESORT command in unnecessary places until a co-worker recently called me on it, hence the idea to write about the topic. I guess the lesson here is to think critically about your code and to make sure that you are not performing redundant tasks that could cause long run times on your analytics. Feel free to share feedback, ask questions or simply say &#8220;hello.&#8221; You can find me on twitter @aclkevin or lurking about the ACL User Forum. If you have ideas for future topics I&#8217;d love to hear those as well! Happy scripting!]]></description>
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		<title>ACL Announces 15th Annual Impact Award Winners, Recognizing the World’s Most Innovative Risk, Compliance, Finance and Audit Professionals</title>
		<link>http://www.acl.com/2013/04/18/acl-announces-15th-annual-impact-award-winners-recognizing-the-worlds-most-innovative-risk-compliance-finance-and-audit-professionals/</link>
		<comments>http://www.acl.com/2013/04/18/acl-announces-15th-annual-impact-award-winners-recognizing-the-worlds-most-innovative-risk-compliance-finance-and-audit-professionals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2013 22:19:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ACL Press</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News Releases]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.acl.com/?p=2906</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
    Phillips 66 to be Honored at ACL Connections 2013 Conference with Grand Prize for Using ACL Technology to Achieve 500% Increase in Productivity VANCOUVER, April 18, 2013 &#8211; ACL, the company that is transforming audit and risk, today announced its 15th Annual Impact Award Winners. This premier technology award for audit, finance, compliance and risk professionals celebrates the outstanding achievements of customers that have made a significant, positive impact on business processes and operations through the use of ACL technology. The winners, comprised of 10 companies around the globe spanning various industries, include The Coca Cola Company, the Public Services Management Department of Zambia, the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico, and Grand Prize winner, Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), which is one of the world’s largest oil and gas refining companies. Fortune 500 company Phillips 66 used ACL data analytics technology to create an Employee Expense Report Monitoring System for its team of approximately 14,000 employees worldwide, establishing a continuous auditing process to identify travel and procurement policy violations, mistakes and instances of fraud before such abuse could negatively impact the business. The system identifies anomalies such as company credit card purchases that occurred when an employee was absent from work, purchases made with suspicious merchants, transactions by former employees, and cash advances that were not fully expensed. Monthly reports showing violations of policy, which can now be produced for management, are used by the Compliance, Global Security, Audit and Controllers departments. “As a direct result of the implementation of this new system, over US$3 million of transactions were identified as having some violation of policy,” said Richard Twilley, Analyst, Commercial Card Services at Phillips 66. “We’ve experienced a 50% increase in accuracy, 1000% increase in efficiency, and a 500% increase in productivity.” “It’s amazing to see the innovative ways in which audit, finance, compliance and risk professionals are integrating ACL’s solutions to positively impact their organizations,” said Laurie Schultz, President and CEO of ACL. “We want to thank all who entered, as your stories have truly been inspiring.” This year’s ACL Impact Award winners are: Grand Prize Winner: Richard Twilley, Phillips 66 Regional Award, North America: Sean Pinto, The Coca Cola Company Regional Award, Latin America and Caribbean: Francisco Ortiz, Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico Regional Award, Asia: Glen Laslett, Metcash Trading Limited Regional Award, Europe, Middle East and Africa: Siame Matthews, Public Services Management Department of Zambia Best Use of Analytics: Desolyn Foy and Christina Ervin, Harris Health Systems Best Use of Audit Management Technology: Lisa Traina, Traina and Associates Best Application of Continuous Auditing or Monitoring: Enrique Vazquez Escobar, Nacional Monte de Piedad IAP Most Promising New User: Eduardo Staino, Construtora Andrade Gutierrez SA Most Innovative Use: Michel Picinin, Suzano Papel e Celulose SA The Impact Awards winners will be honored at the annual customer conference, ACL Connections 2013, taking place April 28–30 at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, Georgia. Harald Will, Executive Chair, Board of ACL will present the awards during a luncheon ceremony on Tuesday, April 30. Supporting resources: • To learn more about ACL, visit: www.acl.com • For the latest news and views on compliance, risk, fraud and audit, visit www.acl.com/blog • Follow @ACLServices on Twitter • Join ACL on LinkedIn www.acl.com/LinkedIn • Like ACL on Facebook www.facebook.com/ACLServices]]></description>
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		<title>Tales from the Road: Lessons learned from the GRC Summit</title>
		<link>http://www.acl.com/2013/04/18/tales-from-the-road-lessons-learned-from-the-grc-summit/</link>
		<comments>http://www.acl.com/2013/04/18/tales-from-the-road-lessons-learned-from-the-grc-summit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:38:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Verver</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Compliance and Risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Compliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GRC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GRC Summit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Rasmussen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Norman Marks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk Appetite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.acl.com/?p=2901</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
    Last week, I attended the 2013 Governance, Risk Management and Compliance Summit in Boston. Some of the GRC luminaries who presented were Michael Rasmussen from GRC 20/20 Research and Norman Marks, GRC evangelist, as well as several risk management practitioners and representatives of the Big Four firms. Here are some of the points I took away with me: Only about 10-15% of organizations are currently taking an enterprise approach to risk management. Most still address risk management and compliance on a departmental basis. The drawback to this is that systems to assess and manage risk are dealt with in silos. When attempting to create consolidated enterprise views of risks you can end up with a mix of “apples and oranges” in which criteria for quantifying and ranking risks are not really comparable.  On the other hand, to be pragmatic, it can often be a lot easier to implement risk management systems on a departmental basis than come up with an aligned approach across the entire organization. One of the most interesting sessions was by Deloitte on risk appetite. Taking an intelligent approach to identifying and communicating the types and amount of risk that can be accepted is critical to effective and efficient risk management. It helps to put risk management into context. Risk appetite ties in with another topic—ensuring risk management is driven around corporate and strategic objectives. This avoids the tendency to spend time considering a large number of things that could go wrong, but are not critical in the context of what the organization is trying to achieve overall. There was a strong view that technology advances, particularly in data analysis, are going to have a huge impact on risk management and risk monitoring. Millions or even billions of transactions will be monitored every day with management receiving and responding to results on their mobile device. &#160; Overall, it was good to see that, despite some of the confusion and misunderstanding that has existed around GRC in the past few years, there is now a lot more alignment and clarity that it is an area that is simply fundamental to good organizational performance.]]></description>
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