Many companies use SAP application to help them plan their solutions and activities. The flexibility and collection makes it difficult to audit. 
SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS (SAP) is highly configurable and implementations frequently vary, even within just various business units of an organization – both monetary and non-financial. Concurrently, the effective operation of controls within the system’s environment is critical to a robust financial and in business control environment. As a result, it is very important gain a new good understanding of just how SAP will be used in the enterprise while planning typically the audit scope plus approach. Auditing a good SAP environment highlights several unique complexity that may impact the audit scope and even approach.
Business operations
SAP covers just about all business processes and a minor modification in the business process can possess a direct effect on the audit treatments due to the particular complexity from the method. Changes in the setup and configuration from the system, the release strategy or creating new procedures may result in new modules and functionality in SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS and as such, additional risks require to be deemed.
For example , a consumer may consider heading off one of the legacy purchasing systems and moving this specific functionality onto SAP. Previously, key controls over purchase order approval might have been carried out manually. Using typically the SAP implementation the particular client has regarded as automating the acceptance process in SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS. The setup regarding the automated work process and user access security is therefore important to assure that adequate controls are maintained to be able to mitigate the hazards. This could involve testing automated controls instead of the guide book controls over po.
sap 顧問 and awareness
For an successful audit, the auditor needs to gain a good understanding of the design of SAP’s authorisation concept (security design). In certain instances, poor security design results inside users being by mistake granted access in order to unnecessary or unauthorised transactions. Hence the overview of the design and style and implementation regarding SAP security plus access controls is usually important to make certain correct segregation of duties is maintained and even access to sensitive transactions is well-controlled.
Segregation of work conflicts can happen when an user is given access to two or even more conflicting transactions : for instance , creating some sort of purchase order and even amending vendor master details. A crystal clear mapping of typically the business processes and even identification of tasks and responsibilities involved in the processes is essential in the particular design of obtain controls to properly audit security.
In addition , there may always be transactions or gain access to levels which can be deemed sensitive for the enterprise, such as amending G/L codes and structures, amending repeating entries or amending and deleting review logs. In a good SAP audit these kinds of sensitive transactions would likely need to be considered during the preparation phase.
Control selection
Organisations can customize the SAP program to match their business needs together with a choice of configurable in addition to inherent controls. Learning the selection process behind these controls is definitely critical for the audit approach. Allowing obtain orders, for example , in order to be approved automatically through the method is considered a configurable automated handle.
However, the client might also choose never to implement this features and address this particular risk through a new manual control. Auditors must understand the particular controls the customer has got chosen to put into action and the matrix of controls that will they place dependence on to offset one or more risks.
Varieties of Handles
In SAP now there are four varieties of controls that a great audit client can utilise in purchase to create the secure environment: inherent controls, configurable settings, application security, in addition to manual reviews regarding SAP reports.
Generally access or configurable controls are performed from the SAP program and therefore are preventive found in nature. On the particular other hand, handbook controls including manual reviews of reports are executed simply by a staff and are usually mainly detective inside of nature. For example , inside the procure-to-pay (P2P) process of SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS (SAP), you will find standard automatic controls such as three-way matching (matching of purchase orders, goods receipt in addition to invoices). The consumer might choose to adopt four-way matching, or perhaps two-way matching associated with invoices, therefore necessitating customisation to match their specific procedures.
Each client will use a different blend controls throughout order to obtain their specific handle objectives, and because of the difficulty of SAP software, auditing around typically the system to gain control assurance is definitely not an choice. Therefore the taxation approach needs to be tailored with regard to each situation appropriately. It is in addition important to highlight that SAP delivers several controls which can be inherent within typically the SAP environment. The example of a natural control is that will journal entries need to balance prior in order to posting in SAP.
Configurable controls
Inside of SAP it is very important understand the link involving configurable controls and even access controls. To get the control objective there may get a mix involving configurable and accessibility controls that generate a control solution. For example, “Purchase orders over �1m get blocked quickly and cannot be processed. ” This particular seems like a configurable control, but is definitely actually both a configurable control and even an access handle, as it deals with the configuration of the Purchasing Release Method within SAP and deals with who else has access to make and approve the PO.
Another instance is “Purchase Purchases over US$1m need to be approved simply by the manager. very well This sounds like an access control, but it is actually a configurable control as well due to the configuration needed for the release strategy. Actually these are complimentary controls, two handles within the same danger together. Without 1 control, the various other cannot cover typically the risk to the particular same precision. The auditor should check both configuration and access aspects of these controls, and so it is important that they can be recognized by the auditor and classified appropriately.
Process risks
SAP is an approach based ERP system and SAP instance may have different dangers connected with it. The ability to personalize and tailor the program, and its inherent complexity, significantly raises the overall complexity of security designs and causes possible security vulnerabilities. Segregation of duty issues, errors and flaws therefore be a little more likely.
Each client has different business operations, products and companies, and systems that suit their environment. Designing the procedure effectively in SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS is important to mitigate the dangers linked to inadequate or failed business operations. A powerful audit technique should therefore contain an evaluation of risks and an comprehending of the organization process mapping for every SAP instance.
Turn plan
Given that will the device is highly customisable, process driven plus enables a selection of control selections, each SAP illustration would potentially possess a different risk profile. Further within SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS, the risk account of numerous modules in addition to sub-modules such since financials (FI), elements management (MM), sales and distribution (SD), payroll, human money (HC), business information warehouse (BW), customer relationship management (CRM) and so on will be different.
The great regions of the organization operations that SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS (SAP) application cover would make it not practical to cover all of them all in a single again audit. To complete a comprehensive audit regarding SAP, it is definitely appropriate to consider a rotation prepare. This may involve planning reviews of every SAP business process, module, sub-module; program configuration and change management; and technique security, including the particular design of segregation of duties and even access levels. This ensures that typically the audits are executed using appropriately qualified resources and include each risk location including business process, security and associated controls. These areas can therefore turn out to be assessed effectively to be able to identify gaps throughout control weaknesses and even recommend appropriate procedure for resolve issues.
Risk-based Approach
In addition to the above challenges, SAP techniques are also improved and enhanced periodically to fulfill ever-changing organization requirements. In the particular current economic environment, companies are faced along with changing risks in the environment of which affect their enterprise processes.
The target of a risk-based approach would be to allow auditors to target the review in order to the areas involving business risk, supplying way to greater focus on review areas with a high-risk potential. The complexity from the SAP (SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS) system and connected business processes, as indicated above, may possibly lend itself to higher inherent chance and control chance which should be taken into account in planning typically the audit.
The risk-based approach should include general risk research, analytical audit processes, systems and procedure based fieldwork, and substantive testing. Inside this way, a good auditor can carry out the audit proficiently using a degree regarding reliability, as well as optimising the time and even effort it calls for. It is therefore important a top-down risk based audit approach is adopted to be able to effectively review SAP.