Businesses look to continuous auditing, monitoring.Companies used to take an annual look at the way their businesses were running, but pressured by new regulations and inspired by technology, auditing is becoming almost a continuous process in many companies, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The 2006 State of the Internal Audit Profession Study found 81% of the 392 companies surveyed about continuous auditing said they either had a continuous auditing or monitoring process in place, or were planning to develop one. The company did a survey in 2005 and was surprised to find that 34% of companies said they were doing some form of continuous auditing, said Dick Anderson
Richard Paul Anderson (born February 10, 1946 in Midland, Michigan) is a former American Football defensive back for the American Football League's and NFL's Miami , partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers. "We hear the term pop up more and more. The numbers are clear that there are more people developing it than have it in place, but it's it's 1. Contraction of it is. 2. Contraction of it has. See Usage Note at its. it's it is or it has it's be ~have gaining a broader acceptance than we would have thought when we went into the study," Anderson Anderson, river, Canada Anderson, river, c.465 mi (750 km) long, rising in several lakes in N central Northwest Territories, Canada. It meanders north and west before receiving the Carnwath River and flowing north to Liverpool Bay, an arm of the Arctic said." Companies are doing a number of different things with it, but the bedrock seems to be that people are looking at different ways and approaches to shortening their auditing cycles." Richard Chambers, managing director of PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that as far back as the 1970s, there's been an aspiration aspiration /as·pi·ra·tion/ (as?pi-ra´shun) 1. the drawing of a foreign substance, such as the gastric contents, into the respiratory tract during inhalation. 2. among internal auditors Internal auditor An employee of a company who analyzes the company's accounting records to that the company is following and complying with all regulations. to be able to audit a company on a continuous basis. "The reason we are starting to see this become a reality now is the technology is finally able to support it," Chambers said. Still, 56% of respondents In the context of marketing research, a representative sample drawn from a larger population of people from whom information is collected and used to develop or confirm marketing strategy. said their continuous auditing processes include both manual and automated au·to·mate v. au·to·mat·ed, au·to·mat·ing, au·to·mates v.tr. 1. To convert to automatic operation: automate a factory. 2. elements: 41% said their processes are entirely manual and 3% said they have fully automated auditing processes. Companies also are conducting their continuous auditing in various cycles: 57% said they do it quarterly; 34% said it's a monthly activity; and 9% said it's become a daily activity. More than half of respondents said Sarbanes-Oxley had led to an increase in internal audit resources, but 32%--the same percentage as in 2005--said they have been actively recruiting people to fill internal auditor positions that had been vacant for six months or longer. "The good news is they have more resources. The bad news is there isn't a lot of talent to fill positions," Chambers said. Continuous Auditing and Monitoring Are Used in A Variety of Ways Monitoring of Key Performance Indicators 10% Monitoring of Key Controls 17% Fraud Detection 20% Audit Testing 26% Monitoring Risks 27% Source: 2006 State of the Internal Audit Profession Study, PricewaterhouseCoopers Note: Table made from bar graph. |
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