Statistics usually are not used in evaluating internal control, nor in forming an opinion on compliance with internal control, nor in evaluating all evidence and forming an audit opinion. The auditor can objectively quantify precision and confidence and, based on these judgments, objectively establish a sufficient sample size to meet the statistical audit objectives. The competence of the evidence is determined by the auditor and is not directly derived from statistical techniques. Irrelevant statistics can be generated with as much apparent objectivity as relevant or competent statistics. The computer is a tool that can aid in Statistically assisted auditing.
Statistic methods require the collection and computation of many mathematical values.
The computer is extremely fast in mathematical computations. Also, general purpose statistical programs are available to perform the calculations without having to develop the statistical programs. These programs operate with command statements. One of the first steps in statistical analysis is to see what the data looks like. This can be done by use of the histogram or scatter plot, or even a simple table.