Today auditors and investigators can read multiple types of data thanks to audit software. The CAATTs computer-assisted audit tools and techniques outlines the firsts steps needed to ensure that the auditor understands how the data can be used to address specific audit objectives. The first step in finding the information needed for fraud detection is to identify the goals of the investigation. Then audit management needs to find the skills and technical capabilities required to proceed with the investigation.
The continuous improvement of auditing software gives auditors and investigators better tools to better interpret the data. There is a a variety of analysis techniques that can be used to understand the data and also to find fraud. This also encourages auditors to think about potentially new auditing applications to use in their operational environment.