Descriptive analytics explains what happened by summarizing historical data, event trends, frequencies, totals, exceptions, or patterns. In internal audit, descriptive analytics may show transaction volumes, trend lines, error rates, payment patterns, system access activity, or incident counts. Diagnostic analytics goes further by explaining why something happened. Predictive analytics estimates what may happen in the future. Prescriptive analytics recommends what should be done based on analysis or optimization. The question specifically states that event trends are analyzed to determine what happened, which is the defining purpose of descriptive analytics. Internal auditors commonly begin with descriptive analytics before performing diagnostic, predictive, or prescriptive procedures. Therefore, Option B is correct.
Contribute your Thoughts:
Chosen Answer:
This is a voting comment (?). You can switch to a simple comment. It is better to Upvote an existing comment if you don't have anything to add.
Submit