Both ACL and IDEA are classified as General Audit Software and have better functionalities over the auditing Microsoft engine. Most Gas users started using ACL as a gateway to their professional auditing. Professionals utilize MS Excel. The hottest debate is how ACL holds up against IDEA. Some of the benefits of using ACL over IDEA include It has a remarkable user forum, which is the most active online community of recent times.
There are a plethora of experts who can answer your technical issues. Also, in connection with the user forum, ACL has countless user groups throughout the world. There also are many online and offline publications about ACL. Compared to ACL, IDEA doesn't quite measure up. On the other hand, IDEA seems to be better than ACL in many ways.
IDEA can better APPEND files. Field sizes are automatically shifted to standard data, unlike in ACL, where the user must carefully observe the correct sizes strictly for the fields. IDEA can also APPEND many different characters' worth of tables with only one command. In the case of ACL, this function must be accomplished one by one. Moreover, the IDEA is said to have better navigation, specifically when working with tables that have been both parent and daughter files.