A nice set of generators for the automorphism group of a finite abelian group is described by Garrett Birkhoff in his paper titled "Subgroups of abelian groups", *Proc. London Math. Soc.,* s2-38(1):385-401, 1935.

Note that each finite abelian group is the product of its $p$-primary subgroups. An automorphism preserves the primary parts. So it is sufficient to consider $p$-abelian groups.

It is convenient to think of automorphisms of finite abelian groups as integer matrices. Expressing the group $A = \mathbf Z/p^{\lambda_1}\oplus \dotsb \oplus \mathbf Z/p^{\lambda^n}$ as a quotient of the free abelian group $\mathbf Z^n$, lift an automorphism $\phi$ of $A$ to an automorphism $\tilde\phi$ of $\mathbf Z^n$:
$$
\begin{matrix}
\mathbf Z^n & \xrightarrow{\tilde \phi} & \mathbf Z^n\\
\downarrow &  &\downarrow\\
A & \xrightarrow{\phi} & A
\end{matrix}
$$
The matrix $(\phi_{ij})$ representing $\tilde\phi$ is an invertible integer matrix.
As far as the automorphism $\phi$ is concerned, the value of its entries in the $i$th row are in $\mathbf Z/p^{\lambda_i}\mathbf Z$. Also $\phi_{ij}$ is $j$ dvisible by $p^{\max(0, \lambda_j-\lambda_i)}$. With this matrix representation, it is easy to do calculations. For example, composition is matrix multiplication.