Account analysis definition
/What is Account Analysis?
Account analysis involves an examination of the detailed line items comprising an account. Account analysis is particularly common for those accounts included in the balance sheet, since these are real accounts whose balances continue from year to year. Without proper account analysis, these accounts tend to build up amounts that should have been purged at some point in the past. If a company's external auditors locate these problems during an audit, they will require that the indicated items be written off, resulting in unexpected earnings reductions.
Account analysis can also be conducted on the nominal accounts that comprise the income statement. However, these accounts are flushed out to retained earnings at the end of each fiscal year, so there is little opportunity for unusual items to build up in these accounts. Also, the typical outcome of such an analysis is only that a revenue or expense item has been recorded in the wrong revenue or expense account; the resulting shift of the item to a different account has no net impact on the profit or loss reported by an entity. Thus, account analysis is most profitably employed on balance sheet accounts.
Account Analysis for Fraud Detection
Account analysis is an essential tool in fraud detection. Here are the steps to follow for such an analysis:
Define the scope. The scope is to identify unusual patterns or discrepancies in specific accounts, such as cash, accounts receivable, or expenses.
Conduct analytical procedures. Compare transactions to expectations, such as analyzing transactions to determine if they align with normal business operations.
Review trends and variances. Compare account balances over time (month-over-month or year-over-year), and investigate unexpected spikes or dips in account balances.
Check for unusual transactions. Identify irregularities, such as round-number transactions that might indicate manual adjustments, transactions occurring outside normal business hours, and payments to unfamiliar vendors or duplicate payments.
Reconcile with supporting documentation. Match account entries with supporting documents, such as invoices, receipts, or contracts. Also, look for discrepancies between the general ledger and subsidiary ledgers or bank statements.
Perform account-specific tests. These will vary, depending on the nature of the account.
Utilize data analytics. Use Benford’s Law analysis to identify unusual transaction amounts, and ratio analysis to spot potential red flags.
Report findings. Document any irregularities detected, specifying the accounts and transactions involved. Then prepare a detailed report for management, external auditors, or fraud investigators, outlining the nature and scope of potential fraud.
Account Analysis Best Practices
To prevent unexpected year-end write-downs, a best practice is to routinely examine the contents of balance sheet accounts throughout the year. Larger accounts may be reviewed every month, while smaller accounts may only be reviewed once a quarter. Another best practice is to concentrate most of your account analysis work on balance sheet accounts; this is because revenue and expense accounts are automatically flushed out at the end of the year, rendering the analysis of these accounts less useful. Balance sheet accounts are permanent accounts, so their balances continue on forever - and so should be rigorously examined at regular intervals.
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How to Conduct an Account Analysis
A good way to conduct account analysis is to itemize the contents of an account on a single worksheet of an electronic spreadsheet, and assign the month-end date to that worksheet page. Reconcile the detail on the worksheet to the account balance. When the next account analysis is done for the same account, copy the contents of the worksheet to a new worksheet, label the page with the new month-end date, and reconcile the account again. By taking this approach, you retain a record of the contents of an account, month-by-month, for as long as you want. This is useful for researching historical accounting questions, and can be used to answer questions by the auditors following the end of the fiscal year.
Account Analysis in Cost Accounting
In cost accounting, the account analysis term is also used to determine the fixed cost and variable cost components of an account, which is useful for contribution margin analysis and the construction of flexible budgets.