Audit FA
Audit FA
Audit FA
written by
Dennis Jürgensen
https://www.zapliance.com/en/blog/auditing-fixed-assets-in-sap 1/10
11/28/2019 7 Things every Auditor has to Know about Fixed Assets
Between the acquisition of an asset and its retirement, there can be many stumbling
blocks along the way. By using data analysis in SAP, an auditor can find out a great
deal. That is the reason why I would like to introduce you to the basics of a fixed
asset audit and the challenges that may be involved.
1. Preparation
2. The necessary data structure
3. Asset acquisition
4. Asset master data
5. Depreciation
6. Manipulated asset retirement
7. Segregation of duties
If you don't want to waste time auditing fixed asset and inventory in SAP,
take a look at zap audit's data indicators.
Preparation
Before embarking on a process audit of fixed assets in SAP involving extensive data
analyses, even for the purposes of a digital audit, our examination should still be
based on a knowledge of the actual processes related to assets. In our
methodology, the SAP processes for fixed assets implemented in the SAP system
must first be determined empirically in the SAP database. Only then can data
analyses be carried out on the basis of known processes for fixed assets. The
determination and reconstruction of all processes is carried out by the Financial
Process Mining Algorithm we have developed.
asset retirement are time- or event-related and involve only one or a few process
steps. There may be corresponding overlaps with the sales process in the case of
asset retirement. The Financial Process Mining Algorithm also takes account of
procedures in the area of fixed assets, so that all individual processes in this area
are known by applying the algorithm.
Data extraction
Data extraction can be hard when it comes to SAP. There are several tools which do
exist on the market, but often an ABAP program is needed in the SAP system. This
can however be the first “showstopper”, because transactions into a SAP system
often require a Change Management Process. This can take a long time, due to the
various authorization steps involved.
But there is also a way to extract data manually using an SAP dialog. You can for
instance use the SAP transaction SE16. Unfortunately, though, this does involve a
lot of manual work and can be very a cumbersome process.
By using Remote Function Call (RFC), there is another way of extracting data from
your SAP system. You only need a SAP user with corresponding user access rights
to call the Remote Function Call component. One of the big advantages of this is
that you do not need to install any ABAP programs in your SAP system. Compared
to other techniques, RFC is pretty old and can sometimes be slow, though it is well-
established and available in all SAP systems. RFC can thus be a convenient and
effective way of optimizing data extraction and can be used to extract data for
analysis from the SAP system with relative ease.
https://www.zapliance.com/en/blog/auditing-fixed-assets-in-sap 4/10
11/28/2019 7 Things every Auditor has to Know about Fixed Assets
If you have already managed to extract the relevant data from your SAP system and
set up the data structure, then you are ready to go. You now have the foundations
you need to perform further analyses. At this point, there is another key question
you have to ask yourself: What exactly do I want to know from the data I have
extracted? In what follows, we will provide some examples by way of illustration. If
you have already defined some questions that you want to ask, you then have to
think about what data fields and combinations of data fields are necessary for you
to do your analysis. In the area of fixed assets and inventory, we have developed 22
indicators / audit questions to analyze critical data fields and identify the
corresponding documents. Every indicator is therefore related to a process, a
process area, and an audit objective, and thus covers a certain risk. As I have
already mentioned, I am going to introduce you to some of the indicators in more
detail in what follows. The focus will be on the process areas of asset master data,
asset acquisition, asset depreciation, asset retirement and segregation of duties. If
you are interested at this point and want to know more, you can download all of our
22 indicators in the area of fixed assets and inventory here:
Download pdf
Asset acquisition
Examples for indicators relating to asset acquisition are: Fixed asset acquisition
without an invoice, rare fixed asset transactions or the temporary deactivation of
fixed assets. Let’s take a closer look at the fixed asset acquisition without an invoice
indicator.
https://www.zapliance.com/en/blog/auditing-fixed-assets-in-sap 5/10
11/28/2019 7 Things every Auditor has to Know about Fixed Assets
affected at the very least and you should take a closer look at the related bank
accounts. You may be dealing with a typical case of fraud. The criteria for a
document getting marked is once again pretty straightforward: A document will be
marked because it contains an asset acquisition (BSEG-ANBWA=100) but an
incoming invoice is missing (credit position related to a vendor BSEG-KOART=K).
Assets under construction are not included in the analysis.
Depreciation
Related to asset acquisition, the data analysis for asset depreciation works in pretty
much the same way. Examples of relevant audit questions in this area are: is there
fixed asset depreciation of more than 50% of activation value, or fixed asset
appreciation or a fixed asset with a negative book value? Here, we will take a closer
look at the issue of a fixed asset with a negative book value: this is related to the
audit objective of compliance and correctness. You may however want to ask
yourself the question how this phenomenon has occurred in the first place. If the
reason for a negative book value becomes clear, then the related risk should be
obvious. In our audit methodology, a document will be marked if the cumulative
https://www.zapliance.com/en/blog/auditing-fixed-assets-in-sap 6/10
11/28/2019 7 Things every Auditor has to Know about Fixed Assets
depreciation ( prior years + current year) exceeds the cumulative costs of acquisition.
In this way, the risk of incorrectly calculated depreciations can be clearly shown.
Segregation of duties
We have written about this topic on several occasions already. However, it is also of
relevance for fixed assets. We explained our approach in this area in greater detail
in one of our recent blog posts on the topic of identifying conflicts of segregation of
duties thanks to our Financial Process Mining algorithm. Even in the area of fixed
assets, one is never safe from the risk of conflicts of SoD. Once again, we should
also underline here that our methodology does not just check what is theoretically
possible, but what has actually happened.
The following are examples of specific conflicts of SoD in the field of fixed assets
that can be detected using our methodology:
https://www.zapliance.com/en/blog/auditing-fixed-assets-in-sap 7/10
11/28/2019 7 Things every Auditor has to Know about Fixed Assets
Topics: Master Data, digitization, Segregation Of Duties, Depreciation, xed asset, xed
asset retirement, SAP Audit, Acquisition
Sign up to receive
our latest news and special offers
direct to your inbox!
subscribe now
https://www.zapliance.com/en/blog/auditing-fixed-assets-in-sap 8/10
11/28/2019 7 Things every Auditor has to Know about Fixed Assets
Comments
Name*
Email*
Comment*
protected by reCAPTCHA
Privacy - Terms
submit
https://www.zapliance.com/en/blog/auditing-fixed-assets-in-sap 9/10
11/28/2019 7 Things every Auditor has to Know about Fixed Assets
Privacy Policy
GT&C
https://www.zapliance.com/en/blog/auditing-fixed-assets-in-sap 10/10