Chapter 13
Continuous Auditing Challenges
Challenges
In this chapter, we identify and discuss the challenges that the internal audit department and the business unit management face when developing and executing the continuous auditing methodology. The key is to understand that you need to recognize and address obstacles as you plan, create, and implement the continuous auditing methodology most suited to complement your current risk-based audit methodology. As you design your custom continuous auditing methodology, use these verified challenges to ensure that your methodology includes the appropriate level of detail for each challenge described. The more details that you include in the formal continuous auditing methodology, the lower the likelihood that you will come across one of these challenges during testing. These obstacles have been broken down into two categories: the ones that challenge the internal audit team and the ones that challenge your business unit partners. The discussion begins with internal audit challenges.
Internal Audit Department
Every internal audit department has challenges; they just come with the territory of being in internal audit. However, once you decide to create and implement a continuous auditing methodology, you must identify and discuss a few more challenges because any one of them could result in the continuous auditing methodology not operating as it was intended. The specific challenges to be discussed are the understanding of objectives, ...
