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The Development of Embedded Audit Modules to Support Continuous Monitoring in the Electronic Commerce Environment
Author(s) -
Debreceny Roger,
Gray Glen L.,
Tham WaiLum,
Goh KayYiong,
Tang PuayLing
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal of auditing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.583
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1099-1123
pISSN - 1090-6738
DOI - 10.1111/1099-1123.00067
Subject(s) - audit , information technology audit , control (management) , internal audit , computer science , accounting , point (geometry) , audit plan , continuous monitoring , process management , business , joint audit , finance , geometry , mathematics , artificial intelligence
An important developing area of assurance is continuous audit. Because of the real‐time, computer‐to‐computer characteristics of electronic commerce, the development of continuous audit techniques is even more critical. Proponents of continuous audit point to a future where auditors monitor entity's accounting information systems in real‐time or in quasi real‐time. A predecessor technology to continuous audit is the Embedded Audit Module (EAM). This study investigates the challenges in developing EAMs. These challenges are analyzed by the development of ten examples of EAM alerts in a fraud environment. The alerts employ stored database procedures and triggers to monitor the internal control environment. The alerts are complementary to the strengthening of a firm's internal control system by monitoring and reporting the irregularities in the control environment. The study provides guidance on the construction of EAMs and points to a number of limitations in their development. These limitations raise a number of issues that must be considered before continuous audit can be widely adopted. The study sets out a number of issues for future research.