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AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory

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Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory Editor's Report

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Data Diagnostics Using Second-Order Tests of Benford's Law

Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 28 (2), 305 (2009);
doi: 10.2308/aud.2009.28.2.305

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Mark J. Nigrini, Associate Professor
College of New Jersey.

Steven J. Miller, Assistant Professor
Williams College.
SUMMARY: Auditors are required to use analytical procedures to identify the existence of unusual transactions, events, and trends. Benford's Law gives the expected patterns of the digits in numerical data, and has been advocated as a test for the authenticity and reliability of transaction level accounting data. This paper describes a new second-order test that calculates the digit frequencies of the differences between the ordered (ranked) values in a data set. These digit frequencies approximate the frequencies of Benford's Law for most data sets. The second-order test is applied to four sets of transactional data. The second-order test detected errors in data downloads, rounded data, data generated by statistical procedures, and the inaccurate ordering of data. The test can be applied to any data set and nonconformity usually signals an unusual issue related to data integrity that might not have been easily detectable using traditional analytical procedures. ©2009 American Accounting Association
History: Submitted September 2005; accepted May 2009; published November 2009
Permalink: http://link.aip.org/link/AJPTXX/v28/i2/p305/s1

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN:
0278-0380 (print)   1558-7991 (online)
Publisher:
AIP is a member of CrossRef American Accounting Association

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