A control is effective when it achieves its intended objective, such as preventing or detecting errors or fraud. A control is efficient when it minimizes the cost and effort required to achieve its objective2. In this case, the control of automatically creating amended purchase orders is effective because it ensures that the discrepancies between the original purchase order and the final invoice are resolved. However, the control is inefficient because it generates too many amended purchase orders for minor differences that may not be material or significant. This may result in unnecessary administrative burden, delays, and waste of resources3. A more efficient control would be to set a threshold or tolerance level for the discrepancies and only create amended purchase orders when the difference exceeds that level4.
Internal audit requests access to write and export specialized reports from the organization's database to aid with testing and analysis.