Disadvantages of computer assisted audit techniques.

Computer assisted audit techniques can be defined as any technique that enables the auditor to use Information technology systems as the source of gathering audit

The following are disadvantage of CAATs :

Setting up the software needed for CAATS in the first year is likely to be time consuming to re-expensive
Audit staff working on audit engagement will need to be trained so they have a sufficient level of IT knowledge to apply CAATs when auditing.
If testing is performed on data in the live system, there is a risk that live client data may be corrupted and lost.
If the system has changed then it may be expensive and time consuming to re- design the CAATs in the next years
If the system is not compatible with CAATs then they will need to be tailored to the system, which may be costly.
If testing is performed on data from copies of the live files rather than the live data itself. There is the risk that these files have been affected by the copying process or have been tampered with.
If there is not adequate system documentation available, it will be difficult to design appropriate CAATs due to a lack of understanding of the system