Can you recommend a substantive testing tool for analyzing journal entries in public company audits?

Yes — a strong option is IDEA (CaseWare IDEA) or ACL Analytics / Diligent HighBond, both of which are widely used for journal entry testing in public company audits.

If you want a single recommendation, I’d suggest:

Diligent HighBond (formerly ACL)

Why it’s a good fit

• Built for audit analytics and substantive testing
• Handles full-population journal entry analysis
• Good at identifying:
  • unusual postings
  • manual journal entries
  • entries posted outside normal hours
  • round-dollar amounts
  • unusual combinations of accounts, users, and dates
• Useful for SOX / PCAOB-style testing
• Supports repeatable scripts and workflows, which helps with documentation and consistency

Typical journal entry tests it supports

• Entries posted by unauthorized users
• Entries made at period-end or post-close
• Manual vs. automated journal entries
• Fuzzy / duplicate analysis
• Benford’s Law and outlier analysis
• Stratification by amount, account, or preparer

Other solid alternatives

CaseWare IDEA

• Very popular in audit practices
• Easy to use for data import and journal entry filters
• Good for auditors who want a more intuitive interface

TeamMate Analytics

• Strong in audit environments
• Integrates well with internal audit and external audit workflows

Python + SQL + Power BI

• Best if your team has strong technical capability
• Highly flexible and scalable
• Less turnkey for audit documentation unless you build a solid workflow

Practical recommendation

If you’re in a traditional audit firm environment, I’d choose:

• IDEA if you want ease of use and quick adoption
• HighBond/ACL if you want more robust audit analytics and repeatable testing

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a comparison table of IDEA vs HighBond vs TeamMate, or
2. a sample journal entry test plan for public company audits.