Summary
Given 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.
Introduction
With the acceleration of information flows and the availability of online real-time enterprise systems, the accounting profession has started to reconsider what an audit means and how it is carried out. It is now widely believed that the “archival audit” where the auditor comes in at the end of the year, examines statements, and issues ex post opinions will inevitably be supplemented, if not replaced, by a more timely, close-to-the-event semi-supervisory function, where independent assurors will work with both third-party stakeholders and firms to provide new forms of assurance products (Kinney 1999; Elliot 1997; Vasarhelyi forthcoming).
Conclusion
Most of the attention and discussion of continuous assurance (CA) thus far has been paid on the technological aspects, taking for granted the economic architecture that underlies all assurance. We feel that equal weight needs to be placed on the demand for continuous assurance products and the economic infrastructure necessary to produce and pay for CA.
