What is ISO 21378 - Audit data collection about?
ISO 21378 is an international standard that focuses on audit data collection.
ISO 21378 establishes common definitions of accounting data elements and provides the information necessary to extract relevant audit data.
Who is ISO 21378- Audit data collection for?
ISO 21378 on audit data collection is useful for:
- Internal and external auditors
- Auditees
- IT professionals
- Software developers
- Accountants
Why should you use ISO 21378- Audit data collection?
Accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software packages are widely used in businesses and by various government organizations to manage and track business processes, post transactions, and produce financial reports. Because of the nature of the information contained within the ERP systems, the data are also leveraged by internal and external auditors to assess the business controls, processes, and financial reporting.
ISO 21378 focuses on major business modules of accounting and ERP systems that are typically used in various organizations. These modules relate to major business processes, including the areas of purchase, sales, inventory, fixed assets and financial reporting, to identify and specify the data elements and file formats needed for auditing.
ISO 21378 aims to resolve the common problems that auditors face when requesting data to perform their audit procedures. The information contained within ISO 21378 will help to improve the accessibility and transparency of audit data, standardize the process of collecting audit data, avoid duplicate efforts and save resources. The worldwide standardization of audit data content and formats will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of government, internal and external audits, and provide benefits to related stakeholders.
Here are some benefits of using ISO 21378:
- Provide guidelines and specifications for obtaining accounting data
- Define the content requirements of accounting data elements (e.g. Fields and tables grouped into modules)
- Define the format requirements of data elements
- Specify data interface output files
- Provide thoughts for customizing the standard to meet the needs of the business structure and process variances that can occur in some organizations
