the continuous audit of online systems（连续在线系统的审计）.pdfVIP

THE CONTINUOUS AUDIT OF ONLINE SYSTEMS Miklos A. Vasarhelyi ATT Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, N.J. 07974 and Rutgers University, Newark, N.J. Fern B. Halper ATT Bell Laboratories, 600 Mounta in Ave., Murray Hill, N.J. 07974. Submitted to Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory August 1989 Revised June 1990 The authors wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and the editor for his review of the manuscript. We would also like to thank the participants of research seminars at Columbia University, Rutgers University, the University of Kansas, the University of Nebraska, and Boston University and the attendees of the EDPAA, IIA, and AICPA professional meetings for their comments and suggestions. We are particularly indebted to Sam Parker, Chris Calabrese, Tsyh- Wen Pao, John Snively, Andrew Sherman, and Kazuo Ezawa for their work on the prototype system. ABSTRACT The evolution of MIS technology has affected traditional auditing and created a new set of audit issues. This paper focuses on the Continuous Process Auditing System (CPAS) developed at ATT Bell Laboratories for the Internal Audit organization. The system is an implementation of a Continuous Process Audit Methodology (CPAM) and is designed to deal with the problems of auditing large paperless database systems. The paper discusses why the methodology is important and contrasts it with the traditional audit model. An implementation of the continuous process audit methodologyis discussed. CPAS is designed to measure and monitor large systems, drawing key metrics and analytics into a workstation environment. The data are displayed in an interactive mode, providing auditors with a work platform to examine extracted data and prepare auditing reports. CPAS monitors key operational analytics, compares these with standards, and calls the auditor’s attention to any problems. Ultimately, this technology will