Feasibility and Economics of Continuous Assurance

Abstract

SUMMARYGiven the growing interest in the topic, both in practice and academia, it is timely and important to examine the concept of continuous assurance (CA) and the possible paths along which such services will evolve. There has been a tendency to see CA purely from the point of view of its technological enablers. As such, it has virtually been taken for granted that CA will follow as a matter of course. What has been less thought through is the business architecture that must underlie CA. In particular, we show that the key driver of CA is the demand for it. While there may be many economic transactions between the company and its stakeholders that could benefit from the provision of CA, there is no guarantee that CA is either cost effective-the only way of enhancing efficiency-or actually has to be continuous. Other factors that will affect the development of CA are the need for a new infrastructure to pay for it, as well as concerns about the independence of the assurors. We also identify some important research issues.

Aplicación de un Modelo de Auditoría Continua Utilizando JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

“…El análisis de riesgos es parte de la planificación de auditoría y ayuda a identificar las vulnerabilidades para que el auditor de sistemas pueda determinar los controles necesarios para mitigar los riesgos (Fogarty, 2005). Asi también, todos los procesos tecnológicos contienen riesgos inherentes que deben ser identificados y mitigados con controles, estos deben ser evaluados periódicamente tanto por los dueños del proceso como por los auditores de sistemas para asegurar que su diseño funcione de acuerdo a lo esperado (Alles, Kogan & Vasarhelyi, 2002). El no revisar todas las áreas de tecnología podría aumentar la probabilidad e impacto de los riesgos naturales del proceso, lo que conlleva a posibles fraudes y pérdidas económicas para la empresa.…”

One Continuous Auditing Practice in China: Data-oriented Online Auditing(DOOA)

“…For example, current versions of ERP systems neither include EAMs nor provide any real continuous auditing capability [15]. So, it is important to research realization methods of continuous auditing on ERP system.…”

The Role of Auditing in the Management of Corporate Fraud

“…As online business transactions continue to be on the increase, efforts are mounting on the technological feasibility and the financial and economic viability of COA (Alles et al, 2002;Vasarhelyi, 2002;Pathak et al, 2005). COA's benefits to both internal and external audits include quick discovery and investigation of errors and fraud, reduction of post year end intensive work level, time saving, adequacy, sufficiency and reliability of audit evidence, timely feedback to clients/management, assurance of data accuracy, instant capture of transactions and control breaches and easier review (Omoteso et al, 2008).…”