Continuous Auditing Technology Adoption in Leading

Transcript:Continuous Auditing Technology Adoption in Leading:
Continuous Auditing Technology Adoption in Leading Internal Audit Organizations Miklos A. Vasarhelyi Siripan Kuenkaikaew Objectives This study involve field research studies from 9 leading internal audit organizations. Examines the status of continuous auditing and continuous control monitoring adoption of the organizations. How internal auditors adopt audit-aid technology in their work. Methodology Interviews with internal auditors, IT internal auditors and internal audit management. The interviews were conducted face-to-face through site visits. Interviewees were selected from the internal audit department. At least four employees were interviewed per organization to ensure validity, information completeness, and a range of points of view. The Audit Maturity Model (1) The Audit Maturity Model (2) The Audit Maturity Model Traditional Emerging Maturing Continuous Factors affect the adoption Management support Management support is critical especially for projects requiring considered amount of budget and affecting some operational processes. It is also necessary that the auditor has access to the systems and data of each auditee (Handscombe 2007). Such access requires management approval. The audit-aid technology implementation is initiated and supported by the head of the internal audit department or higher level management. Internal auditors do not have direct access to the data. With the CA/CM tools, data are automatically extracted without human intervention. Factors affect the adoption Employee knowledge Hall and Khan (2003) posited that an adoption of new invention might be slow if a success of the implementation requires complex new skills. Continuous auditing and continuous control monitoring relies on advance technology. The tools and systems are varied across/within the company, so that an internal auditor needs some basic knowledge or skills for those systems, audit-aid technology and tools. Standard training, customized training, MBA program Prefer experienced auditors Staff rotational program Factors affect the adoption Perceived cost In this context, cost is not the monetary value but the perception of the adoption cost. Taylor and Murphy (2004) suggested that high set-up and ongoing costs could be barriers to the implementation of technology. Searcy and Woodroof(2001): Continuous auditing is increasingly adopted because of a dramatically fallen in a cost of implementation and an availability of support technology. Cost is not the barrier for the adoption of technology. It was not identified as a top challenge for the implementation. Factors affect the adoption Regulation and compliance Many of the executives are thinking of continuous auditing as one of the solutions that assist them to comply with the regulation (Handscombe 2007).