Definition of Audit command language

According to the Internal Auditor magazine, Audit Command Language ACL is "the most widely used data extraction and analysis product" and "the most widely used product for fraud detection and prevention" used in audit profession. Traditionally auditors have manually sampled and reviewed documents supporting various transactions. The sampled items represented "a small portion of the total transactions and required auditors to statistically project the results to the overall universe. That process is largely obsolete in today's highly automated environment." By sampling 100% of the data, ACL can be used to find irregularities or patterns in transactions that could indicate control weaknesses or fraud.