Other organizations, such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants have further defined continuous auditing and provided guidance on the subject.įor additional basic information on continuous auditing, read ' Recommendations for an Effective Continuous Audit Process. 'Ĭontinuous Monitoring Vs. As the guide states, technology plays a key role in continuous audit activities by helping to automate the identification of exceptions or anomalies, analyze patterns within the digits of key numeric fields, review trends, and test controls, among other activities. What is Continuous Auditing?Īccording to The IIA's Global Technology Audit Guide (GTAG) Continuous Auditing: Implications for Assurance, Monitoring, and Risk Assessment, continuous auditing is defined as the automatic method used to perform control and risk assessments on a more frequent basis.

While the way in which companies address these challenges will be unique to their organization, the following best practices can help them prepare for these issues. And third, is the concern that implementing continuous auditing will lead to a loss of independence and objectivity as audit professionals become operationally involved in the process. Second, is the need for auditors to understand the role of continuous auditing as a meta control (i.e., a control of controls). First, is the confusion among auditors and senior management regarding the differences between continuous auditing and continuous monitoring. When organizations begin evaluating the adoption of continuous auditing, three common issues usually arise that if expected can be managed effectively. Consequently, as continuous auditing continues to grow around the world, internal auditors and senior managers need to understand the necessary actions required to support an effective continuous audit process, including establishing audit priority areas and determining the process' frequency. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and audit software vendors, including ACL, IDEA, Approva, and Oversight, are molding and giving large momentum to the continuous audit field.

Additionally, legislation such as Section 404 of the U.S. by its Bell Laboratories research center during the late 1980s and early 1990s, continuous audit efforts are now under way in organizations including Siemens, HCA Inc., Unibanco, the New York Federal Reserve, and IBM. T he need to improve and accelerate audit activities has led in part to the increased adoption of continuous auditing as a vital monitoring tool.

Stages of an audit