When Microsoft is not the best choice for audit software

While the Microsoft products can be fantastic tools in an examination, their relative weaknesses should be understood so they don't become the trusty hammers when what is needed is a set of pliers. Therefore the focus here is arming the fraud examiner with key considerations when making a data analysis software decision, which encompasses Excel,™ Access,™ and other fraud specific tools like IDEA,™ ActiveData,™ and ACL.™
The considerations are organized into these sections: 1) file sizes, 2) speed, 3) error prevention, 4) functionality, 5) data import, and 6) training.

To read more, please see the article on AuditSoftware.net.