Summary

The Audit assertion risk dashboard helps auditors evaluate risk at the account and assertion level using transaction-level data.

The dashboard breaks down risk by assertion across financial statement accounts and provides visibility into the control points, transaction patterns, and underlying entries contributing to assertion-level risk.

This workflow supports audit planning, risk assessment, investigation, and documentation by helping users understand which assertions may require additional attention and why.

How assertion risk scoring works

The Audit assertion risk dashboard produces separate scores for each account/assertion pair.

For example:

• Revenue | Occurrence
• Revenue | Completeness
• Revenue | Accuracy

Each assertion score represents a different dimension of potential misstatement risk and is evaluated independently.

Different assertions may indicate different types of risk. For example:

• Occurrence is generally associated with overstatement risk
• Completeness is generally associated with understatement risk

A high score for one assertion does not automatically mean the entire account should be considered high risk.

Users can investigate assertion-level scores to better understand:

• which assertions may require additional attention
• what transaction patterns contributed to the score
• which entries are driving elevated risk

To learn more about configuring assertion-level scoring workflows, see Configure audit assertion risk scoring.

How assertion risk scores are calculated

• Transactions and entries contribute to an assertion risk score through demerit points.
• Demerit points are generated when a transaction or entry is flagged by a control point algorithm.
• For each account/assertion pair, demerit points are accumulated across the applicable control point ensemble. The final assertion risk score is calculated by comparing the average demerit points per entry against the maximum possible demerit points per entry.

Go to the Audit assertion risk tab

1. Select the icon in the MindBridge sidebar. 
   You will go to the Organizations page.
2. Select View in line with the desired organization, or click anywhere in the organization row. 
   You will go to the Engagements page.
3. Select View in line with the desired engagement, or click anywhere in the engagement row. 
   You will go to the Data page.
4. Select View Analysis on the desired analysis. 
   You will go to the Analyze page.
5. Select the Audit assertion risk tab.

Account risk by assertion table

The Account risk by assertion table displays assertion-level risk scores across financial statement accounts.

Users can review assertion-specific risk across account groups and investigate the transaction activity, control points, and scoring drivers contributing to elevated risk results.

Expand and collapse an account group

All account groups are collapsed by default.

1. Select the chevron icon left of an account name to expand the account group.
   All levels within the group are displayed.
2. Select the chevron icon again to collapse the group.

Filter

1. Select filters from the Account, Type, and/or User ID menus.
2. When you are satisfied, Apply each filter to quickly sift through ledger data and compare accounts for more insights.

Export

Select the export icon in line with Account risk by assertion. The current table view and any applied filters are captured and exported as an .xlsx file.

Entry risk over time graph

Hover over a segment on the graph to reveal:

• The interval of time the bar represents
• The triggered risk levels, and number of entries in each group

Use the legend below the graph to enable or disable each risk level on the graph. Disabled categories appear in grey.

Select any bar on the graph to drill-down to the data table, where you can review a detailed list of transactions for the selected time frame and risk category.

Change the time interval

By default, the graph displays the data by month. 

1. Select View by to open the menu.
2. Select the interval of time you would like the graph to display — by Month, Week, or Day. 

Review risk details for an account/assertion pair

Select an assertion risk score to open the risk detail page for the account/assertion pair. The risk detail page helps users review the information behind the selected score, including:

• Entries contributing to the score;
• Control points associated with the account/assertion pair;
• Demerit point breakdown;
• Demerit point distribution by number of entries or amount;
• Transaction patterns contributing to the score.

Use this page to understand why the score was generated and whether the underlying activity supports further review.

Review demerit point breakdown

The demerit point breakdown shows how low-, medium-, and high-risk entries contributed to the assertion risk score. Use this section to understand whether the score is driven by a broad pattern across many entries or by a smaller group of higher-risk entries. This breakdown helps explain how the score was formed and supports users in evaluating whether the result reflects a meaningful risk signal.

Review demerit point distribution

The risk detail page shows how demerit points are distributed for an account/assertion pair, either by number of entries or by amount. Use this view to identify whether the assertion risk score is driven by:

• A small concentration of entries;
• A larger population of lower-risk entries;
• Specific amounts that may require further review;
• Concentrated demerit point activity that may influence the final score.

This context is useful when evaluating whether a high or low assertion risk score reflects a meaningful risk signal or is influenced by concentration effects.

Score warning signs

Some assertion risk scores may display a warning sign when the score may require additional review before being used to support risk assessment.

Warnings may appear when there is an unusually high or low score. For example, if an assertion score is based on a low number of entries, anomaly detection may be limited and the resulting demerit points and assertion score may not fully reflect an expected risk pattern. Users are expected to carefully review whether these scores reflect a meaningful risk signal before their intended use under their specific use case methodology.  

Create samples, tasks, or exports

Users can use Audit Assertion Risk results to support downstream audit work.

Depending on available permissions and workflow configuration, users may be able to:

• Create samples from assertion risk results;
• Create tasks for follow-up review;
• Export detailed information for selected account/assertion pairs.

These actions help users move from risk review to audit execution, documentation, and further analysis. 

Control Point breakdown graph

The Control point breakdown graph provides visibility into the control points contributing to the selected assertion risk score.

Each bar indicates how strongly a control point contributes to increasing or decreasing the selected assertion-level risk result.

• Positive values raise the score
• Negative values lower the score

The total of these bars is the difference in assertion scores between the account under investigation and the average of the same assertion score across all accounts. 

To understand why an account has a high risk score, investigate the highest positive numbers on the graph.

The graph can be interpreted as follows:

• A large positive number indicates that the control point is a major factor behind the elevated risk score in the account, and may need further investigation.
• Numbers close to 0 indicate that, at the aggregate level, there is no elevated risk in the account related to the control point.
• Negative numbers indicate that at the aggregate level, the account shows no sign of risk in the account related to the control point.

Anything else on your mind? Chat with us or submit a request for further assistance.