Continuous auditing with a multi-agent system

Information technology has dramatically changed the way businesses and business information are managed. In electronic business, much of the information is in electronic format, and the resulting change in the auditing environment has forced audit professionals to audit electronic evidence. Moreover, the emergence of real time accounting reports has put increasing pressure on audit professionals to provide real-time auditing services, or continuous auditing, in which the time between the occurrence of events and the provision of an auditor's opinion is minimized to an acceptable level. This paper proposes an agent-based system for continuous auditing called the agent-based continuous audit model (ABCAM). The system can be implemented independently of the client's information system, is able to undertake automatic auditing in real time, and can easily adapt to changes in auditing requirements and information systems. Five scenarios are developed to illustrate the model.