Lesson plan
Continuous auditing
Continuous auditing is an automatic method used to perform auditing activities, such as control and risk assessments, on a more frequent basis. 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. The "continuous" aspect of continuous auditing and reporting refers to the real-time or near real-time capability for financial information to be checked and shared. Not only does it indicate that the integrity of information can be evaluated at any given point of time, it also means that the information is able to be verified constantly for errors, fraud, and inefficiencies. It is the most detailed audit. Each instance of continuous auditing has its own pulse. The time frame selected for evaluation depends largely on the frequency of updates within the accounting information systems. Analysis of the data may be performed continuously, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc. depending on the nature of the underlying business cycle for a given assertion.
Article summary
Continuous auditing is an automatic method used to perform auditing activities, such as control and risk assessments, on a more frequent basis. 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. The "continuous" aspect of continuous auditing and reporting refers to the real-time or near real-time capability for financial information to be checked and shared. Not only does it indicate that the integrity of information can be evaluated at any given point of time, it also means that the information is able to be verified constantly for errors, fraud, and inefficiencies. It is the most detailed audit. Each instance of continuous auditing has its own pulse. The time frame selected for evaluation depends largely on the frequency of updates within the accounting information systems. Analysis of the data may be performed continuously, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc. depending on the nature of the underlying business cycle for a given assertion.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.