（2004）A continuous auditing web services model for XML-based accounting systems.pdfVIP

International Journal of Accounting Information Systems 5 (2004) 139– 163 A continuous auditing web services model for XML-based accounting systems Uday S. Murthy a,*, S. Michael Groomerb,1 a School of Accountancy, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620-5500, USA b Department of Accounting and Information Systems, Kelly School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405-1701, USA Received 31 March 2003; received in revised form 30 November 2003; accepted 1 January 2004 Available online Abstract This article discusses how emerging information technology (IT) frameworks, such as extensible markup language (XML) and Web services, can be utilized to facilitate continuous auditing for the next generation of accounting systems. Relying on a number of components of Web services technology, this article presents a new model for continuously audit business processes, referred to as continuous auditing web service (CAWS). The CAWS mechanism would run as a ‘‘web service’’ in the audit firm’s computing environment and could be applied at a very granular level to provide assurance about specific business processes, at a very aggregate level for providing assurance relating to continuously reported earnings, or to provide continuous assurance (CA) about the operation of internal controls resident in the audit client’s environment. The primary user of CAWS, given the current audit model, is the audit firm itself. However, the proposed CAWS approach facilitates a new ‘‘pull’’ model of auditing as envisaged by Elliot [Account. Horiz. (1992) 61], where assurance consumers invoke the CAWS routines to obtain assurance on demand. In such a model, the