Use Caseware Verity for Excel

Caseware Verity for Excel brings Caseware Verity to Microsoft Excel through Caseware Cloud Connector. Like Caseware Verity in your engagement, it answers questions about the engagement you're working on, drawing from your engagement data, your firm's methodology, and authoritative standards to provide relevant, cited answers without leaving the file.

See What is Caseware Verity for Excel? for a detailed overview.

Before you begin

Caseware Verity for Excel runs in the Cloud Connector pane in Microsoft Excel. Before you start, ensure your firm administrator has enabled Cloud Connector and assigned a Caseware Verity license to your account.

If you don't already have the Cloud Connector add-in installed, see Get started with Cloud Connector.

Connect to your Excel engagement

To connect Caseware Verity for Excel to your engagement:

1. Open the engagement in Caseware Cloud, then locate an Excel file attached to the engagement, or upload a new one.

2. Open the Excel file from within the engagement to authenticate Caseware Verity to it. A file opened locally won't be connected.

   Note: Caseware Verity for Excel can only access the engagement the workbook is opened from. It can't access other engagements or files outside the current engagement.

3. Access Cloud Connector from the ribbon by selecting Home | Data Link. The Cloud Connector pane opens.

4. Select the Caseware Verity tab. If you don't see it, your Cloud Connector or Caseware Verity license may not be enabled. Contact your firm administrator if this occurs.

5. Confirm Caseware Verity is running by typing a question in the chat, for example "What documents do you have access to?"

Build a workpaper from a blank workbook

Start from an empty sheet and ask Caseware Verity to build and populate a schedule from your engagement data.

To build a workpaper:

1. On the Caseware Verity tab, describe the schedule you want and the source. For example, the trial balance or a set of documents.

2. Review the layout and values Caseware Verity proposes.

3. Approve the change to write it to the sheet, or refine your request and try again.

Example:

• You open a blank workbook and type "Build a lead schedule for cash and cash equivalents from the trial balance."

• Caseware Verity proposes a schedule with the relevant accounts, prior-year and current-year balances and a variance column.

• You review the proposed values, then approve. Caseware Verity writes the schedule to the sheet.

Populate a firm template

Use Caseware Verity to fill a firm-authored test or work program template from engagement data, so you can focus on review rather than data entry.

To populate a template:

1. Open the template workbook from the engagement.

2. Tell Caseware Verity what to populate and from which source, for example a client aging report or the trial balance.

3. Review the proposed entries, then approve them.

Example:

• You open your accounts receivable aging test template and type "Populate this AR aging test from the client's aging report and flag balances over 90 days."

• Caseware Verity fills the test columns from the aging report and flags the balances over 90 days.

• You review the entries and approve.

Validate client-provided data

Ask Caseware Verity to check figures a client has provided in an uploaded Excel file or in the current workbook.

To validate client data:

1. Make sure the client's Excel file is uploaded to the engagement, or the data is in the workbook you have open.

2. Ask Caseware Verity to run the check you need, such as confirming a trial balance balances or tying subledgers to controls.

3. Review the result in the chat, and approve any change you want written to the sheet.

Example:

• You type "Does this trial balance balance?"

• Caseware Verity totals the debits and credits, reports the difference, and identifies the accounts causing it.

Analyze and interrogate engagement data

Ask Caseware Verity to analyze balances and movements, with materiality and risk in view.

Example:

• You type "Which expense accounts moved more than 10 percent from the prior period and are above materiality?"

• Caseware Verity returns the accounts that meet both conditions, drawn from the live engagement, with the figures it used.

Look up authoritative guidance

Ask a technical question and get an answer cited to the standard, anchored to the engagement's framework.

Example:

• You type "Given this lease's terms, what ASC 842 disclosures apply?"

• Caseware Verity summarizes the applicable disclosures, cited to the standard, using the lease terms in the engagement.

Review Caseware Verity's output

Every result is a draft for your review. Ask Caseware Verity for a citation at any time, for example "Where did you find the principal amount for this agreement?" and confirm each value against its source before you rely on it.