Transferring continuous auditing to the digital age - The knowledge base after three decades of research

Abstract

Financial auditing is faced with an intensified regulatory framework and an increasing volume of accounting-relevant data. In order to address these challenges, information technology (IT) and corresponding information systems (IS) are implemented to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of audit services. In this context, continuous auditing (CA) is defined as an approach to deliver audit assurance in terms of an audit subject in real-time or almost real-time. Although CA is discussed in literature for more than thirty years, fully implemented CA systems are still exceptional cases in practice. The aim of this paper is to structure the relevant CA literature and to discuss insights in order to derive major challenges of CA adoption. To do so, we followed a structured literature review approach including backward search and forward search according to Webster and Watson (2002). Consequently, we transform insights and trends of CA research into a conceptual model by describing a scenario of a cloud-based service provider. Our results have a number of implications for both researchers and practitioners. Foremost, we suggest researchers and practitioners to direct their attention on the changes of traditional paradigms and focus on the digitization of the economy.