Jeff Reibel published a great article on SOX and the fact that continuous auditing is possible. This is true, and a great way to keep your company running smoothly. Below is an excerpt from his article:
"When SOX first came out and transactional testing was significantly larger, PricewaterhouseCoopers directly identified such technology solutions as the key to cost reductions in an Internal Audit Advisory, noting, “Technology-enabled auditing, when deployed as part of a broader continuous auditing program, can make the audit process faster, cheaper, more efficient, and more effective… You can also improve assurance quality because of the new-found ability to rapidly audit 100 percent of a transaction universe as opposed to being restricted to data samples alone.
Continuous auditing certainly makes a lot of sense at the transactional level. Since those early years of SOX, AS5 provided some relief to public companies by redirecting compliance efforts towards high-risk areas and higher-level controls. The change in AS5 allowed companies to reduce transactional testing while relying more on manual internal controls, but we continue to hear that continuous auditing and monitoring are the wave of the future."
