Managing internal control: Designing a wiki-based information system for continuous process assurance

Abstract

The assessment of a client's internal control environment is a recognized and crucial part of financial statements auditing. Appropriate tools and techniques are required in order to enable the auditor to understand the organizational environment and to evaluate the compliance of controls along accounting-relevant processes. This research-in-progress paper provides initial research findings in the area of continuous assurance in terms of collecting requirements for the support of process auditing, and the extension of core functionalities of an existing prototype. This prototype is realized as a web application combining complete wiki functionality with a modeling component, and enables the automated synchronization between workflow procedures and business process models. This empowers the auditor to monitor and assess changes of client's business environment and internal control constantly. In conclusion, the paper introduces future work encompassing the strengthening of analysis and design as well as evaluation by implementing the prototype in multiple organizations.