Ally McNeil is conducting the audit of a wholesale electrical goods distributor, Electra Ltd.

Electra supplies appliances to hundreds of individual customers in the metropolitan area of Bigtown. It maintains detailed accounts receivable records on a computer system. At the end of each business day, the customer account master file is updated. Each customer record in the master file contains the following data:

• customer account number;

• customer address;

• open (unpaid) invoices at the beginning of the month, by invoice number and date;

• sales during the current month, by invoice number and date;

• individual cash receipts during the current month;

• date of last sale; and

• date of last cash receipt.

Ally McNeil is planning to confirm selected accounts receivable as at the end of the current month. She will have available a computer file of the data on the accounts receivable master file on the date that the company regularly sends monthly statements to its customers.
Ally has a general purpose software package to assist her in this task.

Required

Detail how Ally McNeil will be able to use the computer software package and accounts receivable master file to assist her in the audit of accounts receivable.