Journal entry testing: the 14 test patterns

Last updated: October 2026 · fastview ag, Suhr

Professionally responsible: Marco Zanetti and Reto Ackermann, fiduciaries and certified auditors, fastview ag

In journal entry testing, rather than looking at a sample of documents, the entire journal is searched for conspicuous patterns. pruvia applies 14 fixed rules for this. This page describes each rule, what it finds and where its limits lie.

Context

In the ordinary audit, testing journal entries is one of the responses to the risk of fraud, in particular management override of controls (ISA-CH 240). In the limited statutory examination it is not prescribed: the Swiss Standard on the Limited Statutory Examination (SER) provides for inquiries, analytical procedures and appropriate tests of detail. The audit software pruvia provides the analysis in both types of audit; in the limited statutory examination it serves as a voluntary analytical preliminary check. Anomalies identified must be followed up there as well.

pruvia does not count opening entries; they are balances, not current entries. Several rules use performance materiality from planning as the threshold; if it has not been set, they use CHF 10'000.

The 14 test patterns

Pattern	What it finds	Example
1 Round amounts	Entries in round thousands from CHF 1'000. Possible estimates, reclassifications or manual corrections.	“Consulting” expense of exactly CHF 15'000.
2 Weekend/public holiday	Entries on a Saturday, Sunday or nationwide Swiss public holiday (including Berchtold’s Day).	Revenue entry dated 25 December.
3 Period end	Clustering on the last recorded day: more than 5 % of all entries and at least three.	40 of 600 entries on 31 December.
4 Above materiality	Individual entries from performance materiality upwards. From three hits, pruvia rates the finding as critical.	Single entry of CHF 120'000 with performance materiality of CHF 80'000.
5 No text	Entries without a description, once they make up more than 10 % of the journal.	A fifth of the entries have no text.
6 Duplicate entries	Groups with the same account, same amount and same text (from CHF 1).	Supplier invoice recorded twice with identical text.
7 Benford	Distribution of the first digit compared with the Benford expectation, overall and per account, each from 300 amounts of CHF 10 or more. The measure is the mean absolute deviation (MAD).	On an expenses account, conspicuously many amounts begin with 4 and 9.
8 Reversals	Entries with a reversal flag or offsetting entries of equal amount on the same account within 31 days (from CHF 100).	CHF 8'400 posted and reversed three weeks later.
9 Document numbers	Gaps in the document number sequence, from 50 numeric document numbers and more than 2 % missing numbers.	45 numbers missing between document 1001 and 1600.
10 Manual	Manually recorded entries from half the threshold upwards. Only evaluable if the journal contains the entry type.	Manual reclassification of over CHF 50'000 shortly before the closing.
11 Contra account	Entries from CHF 1'000 with a contra account that occurs at most twice on an account with at least 50 movements.	Cost of goods posted once against a loan account.
12 Splitting	At least three entries just below the threshold within seven days to the same payee, whose sum exceeds the threshold.	Three payments of CHF 9'500 each to the same supplier in one week.
13 Monthly profile	Monthly totals of an account far above the monthly median (robust deviation, from six months of data).	Repair expenses in November five times a usual month.
14 Related parties	Entry descriptions containing names of governing body members or shareholders recorded as related parties in planning (ISA-CH 550, Art. 959c CO).	Entry description “Rent holiday flat Muster” where a board member is named Muster.

Criticality results from the weight of the rule, the share of entries concerned and the amount in relation to materiality. A heatmap shows which accounts stand out for which patterns; for Benford, pruvia shows the expected and observed distributions side by side.

How to work with it in pruvia

1. Upload the journal. In the data import you load the journal or account sheets as Excel, CSV or PDF; the findings appear in audit planning, step 3 “Journal & account movements”. pruvia recognises the columns for date, account, text and amount or debit/credit.
2. Read the findings. For each pattern you see number, amount, criticality and the entries concerned with date, account, contra account, text and amount. You can record a comment on each finding.
3. Assess. For each pattern you choose “risk” or “no risk”. For “risk”, pruvia creates a risk with its origin in step 5 “Risk assessment”; the description is mandatory. Planning can only be approved once all steps are complete.
4. Draw a sample. From the findings, pruvia draws a selectable number of items on a risk basis, supplemented if desired by a random monetary unit sample (MUS) with an interval derived from materiality. You process the items on the “Sampling” page.

In the ordinary audit, pruvia transfers a finding at the push of a button as a suggestion into the procedure “Journal entry testing” (A/O02), and findings on related parties into procedure A/O05. There you adopt or discard the suggestion.

Limits of the analysis

• The rules only see what is in the journal. If the entry type is missing, the “manual” pattern is dropped; if document numbers or contra accounts are missing, the corresponding patterns are dropped.
• Benford needs many amounts. With small journals, the pattern does not trigger.
• The search for related parties compares name components of four or more characters with the entry description. It does not find abbreviations or company names unrelated to the person.
• A hit is not an error. Round amounts, closing entries or seasonal peaks often have a simple explanation.

What the auditor decides

pruvia provides patterns, figures and lists of entries. You decide which findings constitute a risk, how you describe it, which audit procedures follow from it and which documents you inspect. Materiality, which determines several thresholds, is set in step 4 of planning.

Frequently asked questions

Is journal entry testing mandatory in the limited statutory examination?

No. The SER provides for inquiries, analytical procedures and appropriate tests of detail. pruvia nevertheless offers the analysis as a voluntary analytical preliminary check; anomalies must be followed up even then.

Which files can I upload?

Journal or account sheets as Excel, CSV or PDF. pruvia recognises the columns for date, account, text and amount, or debit and credit.

Does pruvia use AI for the test patterns?

No. The 14 test patterns are fixed rules. The same data always yields the same findings.

What happens with a finding?

You assess each pattern as “risk” or “no risk”. A risk appears with its origin in the risk assessment of planning; the description is mandatory. In the ordinary audit, the finding can also be adopted as a suggestion into procedure A/O02.

Which threshold do the rules use?

Performance materiality from planning. If it has not been set, splitting, manual entries and monthly profile use CHF 10'000; the “above materiality” pattern is then dropped.

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