How to complete the Analytical Review (Completion) workpaper

To assist you in completing the Analytical Review (Completion) workpaper, we've broken our instructions down into 3 easy steps:

Step 1 - Setting your Materiality and Tolerable Variance

The first step to completing your analytical review is to set your materiality and tolerable variance. These fields are linked to the analytical review and will help you identify accounts that may be material or immaterial.

When you first open your analytical worksheet, the materiality fields will appear like this:

The first step is to complete the overall materiality and performance materiality. To do this, simply:

1. Select the lock icon to enable edit mode;

2. Type in your overall materiality and performance materiality;

3. The data will save automatically, so you can move to the next step.

The default percentage for tolerance variance is 10%. You can edit the figure. To edit the percentage, simply:

To complete your tolerable variance, simply:

1. Place your cursor in the text box and type your tolerable variance;

2. This data will also save automatically;

At any time, you can update any of these fields.

Step 2 - Completing Your Review

Once you've set your parameters (see step 1), you can begin your review. The analytical review is split into three sections:

1. Financial Data

Your analytical review is populated with the financial data that is stored in your trial balance and is allocated based on the 'type' you selected when you mapped your trial balance.

If you selected the tick box on the materiality toolbar 'view reconciliation between draft and final figures', then the financial data section will also show your audit adjustments.

Within the description of each row, you will also see a comment icon. Once you select the icon, you can enter a comment for that row. The comment icon will change its display colour to red to indicate that a comment has been provided.

You can also add comments from the “Comments” column on each row. When the page is refreshed, the comments will be updated so that the comments in the icon and the comment column match the individual rows.   

2. Making Your Audit Assessment

The next section of the analytical workpaper allows you to make an Audit Assessment as to whether an account area is considered material or immaterial.

The Material column automatically calculates whether the current year or prior year figures are greater than the performance materiality. If either period figures are greater than the performance materiality, then the word 'Yes' will be returned. This column is not editable.

The Assessed as material by the auditor column determines whether you agree with the material assessment. If an account is deemed to be material by the auditor, then you should select Yes from the drop-down menu. If you think that the account is not material, then you must select No. You can also add a comment in this column by selecting the gray triangle icon on the top left corner of the cell. Once a comment is provided, the colour will change to red to indicate a comment has been provided.

3. Comparison to Prior Period

The final section of the analytical workpaper will calculate the variance between the current year's data (final balance) and the prior year's data. The significant variance column will return a 'Yes' result if the variance % is greater than the tolerable variance.

Step 3 - Document Further Notes and Complete the Conclusion

Once you've completed your analytical review, the final step is to document any further notes in the comment box and complete your conclusion.

Re-Populate Analytical Review With Latest Data

If adjustments have been made to the trial balance or the accounting structure and you want the Analytical Review worksheet to be updated with the latest data, use the “Re-populate” button which is displayed inside the financial data table.

If the table has never been re-populated, the date will be displayed as N/A. Once the re-populate button has been used, the date will be updated to the last re-populated date.

Using this Re-populate button will update the data inside the table to the latest figures in the Accounting structure. Please bear in mind that some data/information might be lost if the Accounting Structure is different.