دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی حسابرسی مستمر: ایجاد قابلیت حسابرسی خودکار - امرالد 2018

Summary

The digital economy has significantly altered the way business is conducted and financial information is communicated. A rapidly growing number of organizations are conducting business and publishing business and financial reports online and in real-time. Real-time financial reporting is likely to necessitate continuous auditing to provide continuous assurance about the quality and credibility of the information presented. The audit process has, by necessity, evolved from a conventional manual audit to computer-based auditing and is now confronted with creating continuous electronic audits. Rapidly emerging information technology and demands for more timely communication of information to business stakeholders requires auditors to invent new ways to continuously monitor, gather, and analyze audit evidence. Continuous auditing is defined here as “a comprehensive electronic audit process that enables auditors to provide some degree of assurance on continuous information simultaneously with, or shortly after, the disclosure of the information.” This paper is based on a review of related literature, innovative continuous auditing applications, and the experiences of the authors. An approach for building continuous audit capacity is presented and audit data warehouses and data marts are described. Ever improving technology suggests that the real-time exchange of sensitive financial data will place constant pressure on auditors to update audit techniques. Most of the new techniques that will be required will involve creation of new software and audit models. Future research should focus on how continuous auditing could be constantly improved in various auditing domains including assurance, attestation, and audit services.

Summary and Conclusion

Technology allows companies to do business and publish financial information in real-time. Traditional paper audit trails are disappearing as the lag time between transactions and their appearance on published financial statements grows increasingly shorter. Real-time accounting systems require auditors to employ continuous electronic auditing because most audit evidence exists only in electronic form and in many instances only for a very short time. The audit process has evolved from the traditional manual audit of paper documentation to auditing through the computer and is, by necessity, moving toward a paperless, electronic, online, real-time continuous audit. Tagging financial information using standards such as XBRL enables organizations to freely exchange and extract financial information across all software formats and technologies including the Internet.

This paper presents an approach for building continuous audit capacity and a description of audit data warehouses and data marts. Continuous auditing is defined here as “a comprehensive electronic audit process that enables auditors to provide some degree of assurance on continuous information simultaneously with, or shortly after, the disclosure of the information.” Auditing electronic financial reports according to existing generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) presents unprecedented challenges for accountants.