Marcum Technology - Digital Advisory

Data Analytics

Timely, cost-effective data analytics inform your decision-making.

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Today, data-driven decision-making isn’t just nice to have. It’s a requirement.

But converting data to a usable format or extracting the precise information that’s needed can be difficult. Data-bearing systems may be antiquated. Perhaps you lack the people necessary for the tedious conversion work. And when your auditor has to do the job manually, the costs can climb.

There is a better way.

Marcum Technology’s data analytics professionals get your big data into the shape and form you need for your upcoming annual audit, your next court case, financial transaction dispute, and a host of other situations. Marcum offers two data analytics services to meet your needs – on-demand requests, tailored data solutions and data governance services.

For more information, contact [email protected].

Data-on-demand requests for audits, or legal and other reviews.

Marcum Technology’s Data Solutions Center (DSC) turns on-demand requests around quickly – from several hours to just days, depending on the scope and nature of the work. Data is transformed and delivered to your exact specifications, as Marcum’s professionals collaborate with teams of all types to complete your engagement on time and in your desired format.

Common data-on-demand requests include, but are not limited to:

  • PDF-to-Excel conversion and formatting to your specifications.
  • General ledger (GL) formatting and testing.
    • Data formatting for easy manipulation and analysis.
    • Completeness testing.
    • Summarization of all GL activity by account.
    • Identification of accounts where GL activity didn’t match the change reflected in the trial balance (TB).
    • Identification of TB accounts with no activity.
    • Identification of accounts with GL activity but not in the TB.
  • 100% journal entry (JE) testing.
    • Duplicate JEs.
    • Non-balancing JEs.
    • Weekend and holiday entries.
    • High-value JEs by individual line, complete JE.
    • Rounded amounts.
    • Outliers.
    • JEs containing certain phrases (including related party names).
  • AR and AP aging.
  • Stratification.
  • Inventory acquisition cost to sale price.
  • Depreciation recalculation.
  • Ticker symbol price lookups.
  • Vendor-to-employee comparison.
  • Sampling.
    • Random, stratified, or by attribute.
    • Summarization by one or multiple attributes.
    • Data extraction based on user-provided criteria.

The Challenge:
Manual data entry for an audit/review

The Old Process

Let’s say you’re auditing a 100-page AR aging in a PDF. Typically, you need to manually foot the schedule, identify any individually significant items (ISIs) and run the rest through a sample design. Once sample size is generated and ISIs are identified, you have to manually enter the selections into a testing template. Audit staff then manually enters the data into a Word document for AR confirmations.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the data were just in a clean spreadsheet?

people sitting around small table

The Marcum Data Solutions Center Difference

Marcum’s DSC staff uses the appropriate tools to convert the PDF into a spreadsheet, extract the ISIs and generate a random sample. The report generated will be in a clean Excel spreadsheet, ready for copying into your testing template. And, if you send us your testing template and confirmation template, we’ll populate those, too!

Time and Cost Savings.

Normal time and fee to foot, sample and prepare confirmations for a 100-page AR aging PDF = 3 hours at $150 to $180 an hour.

Marcum Data Center time = 30 minutes: Resulting in savings of $400 to $500.

group of people viewing computer monitors

Examples of clients / situations the Digital Advisory team frequently serves:

CPA firms for annual audits.

Law firms to trace assets and for asset dissipation and lifestyle/spending analyses.

Any dispute involving historical transactions, financial statements.

M&A due diligence.

Private-equity portfolio companies.

Clients with high-volume, complex business transactions.

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Tailored data solutions

Marcum helps you overcome the “same as last year” mentality to meet your looming deadlines quickly and cost-effectively. The Marcum Technology professionals you work with can help you solve common issues associated with your high-value Big Data, or any data – too many or incorrect formats, insufficient IT resources, and the uncertainty that comes with trying something new and untested.

When you partner with Marcum Technology’s team, you receive the assistance you need to optimize and reengineer existing processes so your data is easy to use. Imagine a future when you use robotic process automation (RPA) or artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate and streamline work flow and quickly deliver your data in usable form. That future can be yours now.

Data is more than new oil. They’re reusable, malleable to serve a myriad of business purposes. So, if you have processes you suspect could be improved and automated, or your data is in the wrong format, and you can’t get your arms around it quickly enough—let us know so we can help.

The Challenge

Gather, compile, cleanse and reformat four years of sales history from approximately a dozen entities so information is easy to understand and meets the needs of a private equity-backed portfolio delivery company.

Having recently acquired small Mom & Pop delivery companies in markets across the country—all with different recordkeeping systems—our client had no real visibility into their sales history.

Marcum Technology’s Data Analytics Solution.

Marcum’s data analytics team performed the legwork to gather sales data from 12 disparate systems. As they did, they also advised each company about what was needed going forward. Marcum’s team summarized the cleansed data to meet our client’s needs.

The Challenge

Build a predictive model for an energy broker, enabling the company to review data anomalies.

The company used somewhat complex calculations to pay investors. Management asked Marcum to build a model that would identify anomalies in the calculations and allow management to easily audit the data prior to issuing investor commissions.

Marcum Technology’s Data Analytics Solution.

Marcum’s data analytics professionals assessed the processes and issues, and using a combination of technologies, designed and constructed an easy-to-use model to assist in reviewing a high volume of monthly transactions.

Data governance services - turn data into a strategic asset

Smart data governance strategies and techniques will ensure your organization has access to timely, accurate and consistent data that is critical for operations, risk management and compliance. Marcum’s data analytics professionals help you transform data governance from a regulatory imperative into a strategic advantage. The nature of Marcum’s data governance service is flexible, enabling our professionals to customize service delivery according to your specific objectives and priorities.

Marcum Technology’s data governance services include:

  • Automating data quality and monitoring solutions.
  • Ensuring compliance across your critical business processes.
  • Deriving the promised value from your investment in business intelligence.
  • Delivering accurate information for executive dashboards and corporate reporting.
  • Enhancing IT audit and internal controls.

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