In modern public administrations, paper-based bookkeeping has been replaced by integrated PFMIS databases. Public auditors can no longer rely on manually tracing physical ledger files. They use Computer-Assisted Audit Techniques (CAATs) and specialized interactive data extraction software (such as ACL or IDEA) to perform forensic financial reviews at scale.

CAATs allow auditors to interrogate millions of transaction rows inside a government database simultaneously:

[ Central PFMIS Database Log ] 
              |
              v (CAATs Software Automation Extraction)
              +---> Auto-flags duplicate payments sent to the same vendor account
              +---> Identifies weekend and after-hours transaction approvals
              +---> Flags purchase orders issued outside authorized budget ceilings

Advanced SAIs implement continuous auditing modules that sit directly inside the government’s central cloud networks. These automated sub-routines constantly monitor high-risk modules—such as the public payroll or central bank exchequer transfers—and send real-time anomaly alerts directly to external audit teams, allowing for immediate intervention before public funds are siphoned away.