More tools for data analysis

How to optimize the data analysis process?

In addition to the numerous tools and capabilities of Caseware IDEA, developers continue to enhance and expand macro-building capabilities using Python. Many additional subprograms based on this programming language have been created and are available to all IDEA users. At the same time, developer-analysts continue to enrich functionality with additional add-ons for audit activities. In the IDEA 13 update, developers upgraded Python to version 3.12, introducing significant optimizations and improvements in macro execution speed.

To simplify the work of analysts who create complex analysis tools for their teams using Python, developers have introduced a library that streamlines the process of extracting data from IDEA tables—now achievable in a single line of code. Let’s take a look at an example:

Every analyst who has worked with Python is familiar with pandas. This is a library for data processing and analysis. For manipulating tabular data, there is the DataFrame format, which further simplifies the analysis process.

First, you need to import the library to access the IDEA application and the pandas library:

Next, we create access to the application and a function that helps convert an IDEA file into a pandas DataFrame:

The first variable, idea, provides access to Caseware IDEA.

Next, using the idea2py method, where we pass the database name in IDEA as the first argument and the key (access) as the second argument, we import the database.

That’s it—the data is now in a DataFrame. Similarly, there is a function with reverse functionality, appropriately named py2idea().

Let’s perform some data manipulations—for example, creating a pivot table based on certain data—and then upload the data back into IDEA:

Let’s perform some data manipulations—for example, creating a pivot table based on certain data—and then upload the data back into IDEA:

And here, it’s just a single line of command. Next, we upload this back into Caseware IDEA:

As seen in the example, it’s very simple. If you wish to implement complex analysis tools, you can do so without the help of IT specialists. You can also always reach out to our support team at support@caseware.com.ua—our team of experts is always ready to assist you with your analytics.

As mentioned earlier, IDEA developers add numerous functional subprograms, which are available on the IDEALab portal, accessible to all Caseware IDEA users.

List of developments available for download:

·    TRIAL BALANCE – TRANSACTION RECONCILIATION

·     Z-SCORE CALCULATOR

·     RELATIVE SIZE FACTOR

·     TOP RECORDS EXTRACTION WITH RANKING

·     PANDAS PROFILING

·     WORD FIND