Analytical Procedures: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

In this paper, we demonstrate the usefulness of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as an analytical procedure for auditors, especially in the planning stage of the audit, to determine the extent of audit and to assess the preliminary risk level of the client. We believe that DEA can also be used in the overall review stage to detect any anomalies and to assess the reasonableness of financial statements. DEA‐based analytical procedures can provide consistent and reliable red ags and benchmarks for auditors to compare a client to other firms in the same industry. We provide an illustrative use of DEA as an analytical procedure for auditing a client in the oil and gas industry. We also provide validation for DEA as an analytical procedure.