Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) Part 3: Business Knowledge for Internal Auditing — Question 253

An internal auditor was assigned to test for ghost employees using data analytics. The auditor extracted employee data from human resources and payroll. Using spreadsheet functions, the auditor matched data sets by name and assumed that employees who were not present in each data set should be investigated further. However, the results seemed erroneous, as very few employees matched across all data sets. Which of the following data analytics steps has the auditor most likely omitted?

Answer options

• A. Data analysis
• B. Data diagnostics
• C. Data velocity
• D. Data normalization

Correct answer: D

Explanation

The auditor likely neglected to perform data normalization, which is essential for ensuring that data from different sources is comparable and consistent. Without normalization, discrepancies may arise from variations in data formats or naming conventions, leading to inaccurate matches. The other options do not directly address the need for aligning data from diverse sources.