Date Entries

The Date entries analytic identifies transactions with certain date values. See the Test configurations section to view a full list of the types of date values that can be identified.

This analytic test can be used to identify:

  • Possible attempts to manipulate the financial statements

  • Financial reporting areas that have lower accuracy or precision

  • Transactions that contain significant estimates

  • Improperly configured system settings which may need improvement and further evaluation

  • Improper recognition of transactions in the correct accounting period

  • Weak internal controls

  • Weak monitoring and detecting activities

  • Poor training

  • Deviations in the expected date range which may indicate cut-off issues

  • A long lapse of days between entered and posted dates or where the entered date is earlier than the posted date which could be an indication of back dating or forward dating

  • A risk of material misstatement due to fraud

Fields used for analysis

The following fields are required for this analysis:

  • Reference field(s) - Unique field(s) that are used to create a unique transaction ID such as the Entry ID field for the general ledger dataset. These columns are not part of the result but are used to identify the transactions that are part of the result. This field is already defined in the test and cannot be modified.

  • Core field(s) - One or two date fields.

Parameters

The following parameters must be set to run this test:

  • Date - Select one or more dates that the analysis will be performed on.

  • Entered time period - If your test configuration looks for date ranges, enter the number of periods that will be used. For example, if you select 2 and you select Weeks as the period type and Between as the range type, the test will look for dates 2 weeks before and after your selected date.

  • Select period type - Select the period type, such as days, weeks or months.

  • Range type - For some configurations of this test, you must indicate whether you are looking for transactions on dates before, after or between the specified date range.

Test configurations

Note: The configurations available to you vary depending on the product you’re using.

The following configurations are available for this test:

  • Transactions around a certain date - Lists transactions around a certain date.

  • Transactions within a date range - Lists transactions within a date range analytic allows for the extraction of transactions between two specified dates.

  • Transactions with two dates within a certain date range - Lists transactions with two dates within a certain date range.

  • Transactions in which two dates are around a certain date - Lists transactions with two dates within a certain date range.

  • Transactions on a certain date - Lists transactions posted on certain day(s) of the year.

  • Transactions posted on a certain day(s) of the week - Lists transactions posted on specific day(s) of the week.

  • Transactions posted on a certain day(s) of the year - Lists transactions posted on certain day(s) of the year.

Technical specifications

When you run the Date Entries analytic test, the following steps are performed to run the test:

  1. If needed place any filters on the data in order that a subset is used for the analysis. If no filter is placed, the analysis will be run on the entire data file. This step can also be performed as the last step instead of the first. Note that the ability to set filters is not currently available and will be available in later versions of the test.

  2. Validate that the necessary reference fields have been selected. If fields have not been selected, then create a unique reference field. This step is only performed if specific fields have been selected. If all the fields are available, this step is not necessary.

  3. Obtain which configuration of the test will be performed:

    • Look for transactions around a certain date.

    • Look for transactions within a date range.

    • Transactions with two dates within a certain date range.

    • Transactions in which two dates are around a certain date

    • Transactions posted on a certain date.

    • Transactions posted on a certain day(s) of the week

    • Transactions posted on a certain day(s) of the year

  4. For the Transactions around a certain date test:

    1. Validate that a date field has been selected.

    2. Validate that the user has selected a date.

    3. Validate that the user has input the number of periods.

    4. Validate that the user has selected if the number of periods is days, weeks or months.

    5. Validate that the user has selected one of the following:

      1. Greater than (>=) - Indicates that the date field value is greater (after) the selected date.

      2. Less than (<=) - Indicates that the date field value is less than (before) the selected date.

      3. Between - Indicates that the date field value is between the selected dates.

    6. Extract all transactions in which the date column selected is within the period defined by the user. Examples would be:

      1. The user selects 1 week with a date of Dec 31, 2023. The test extracts all transactions that fall between Dec 31, 2023 and Jan 7, 2024.

      2. The user selects between then all transactions between Dec 23, 2023 and Jan 7, 2024 would be selected.

  5. For the Look for transactions within a date range test:

    1. Validate that a date field has been selected.

    2. Validate that the user has entered both a lower and an upper date.

    3. Extract all transactions where the date field falls between the lower and upper dates, including transactions that occur on the lower and upper dates.

  6. For the Transactions with two dates within a certain date range test:

    1. Validate that a date field has been selected.

    2. Validate that a second date field that is different from the first date field has been selected.

    3. Validate that the user has input the number of periods.

    4. Validate that the user has selected if the number of periods is days, weeks or months.

    5. Validate that the user has selected one of the following:

      1. >=

      2. <=

      3. Between

    6. Extract the transactions based on the following:

      1. >= - Extract transactions in which date2 is after date1 based on the selected period.

      2. <= - Extract transactions in which date2 is before date1 based on the selected period.

      3. Between - Extract transactions in which date2 is either before or after date1 based on the selected period.

  7. For the Transactions in which two dates are around a certain date test:

    1. Validate that a date field has been selected.

    2. Validate that a second date field which is different from the first date field has been selected.

    3. Validate that the user has entered a date.

    4. Validate that the user has selected the date field.

    5. Extract transactions in which the user selected date field is prior to the user entered date and the unselected date field is after the user entered date.

  8. For the Transactions posted on a certain day(s) of the week test:

    1. Validate that a date field has been selected.

    2. Validate that one or more days of the week have been selected.

    3. Extract transactions which fall on the day(s) of the week selected by the user for the selected date field.

  9. For the Transactions posted on a certain day(s) of the year test:

    1. Validate that a date field has been selected.

    2. Validate one or more days of the year have been selected.

    3. Extract transactions which fall on the day(s) of the year selected by the user for the selected date field.