An Integrated Approach to the Audit of OIS\u27S

Accounting systems are by their very nature fundamental components of an Office Information System (OIS). As a requi rement for conducti ng busi ness, these systems need to satisfy accounting and auditing requirements. Though the state-of-the-art in EDP auditing has made major advancements i n recent years, many of the computer control s and EDP auditing techniques currently employed are unusuable or inadequate in an OIS environment. The accountability of an OIS poses many new challenges. The answers to these questions must be found in the same technol ogy that presents them. In partial ful fill ment of these needs, a general design of an audit system suitable for OIS\u27s is presented in this article. The audit system constitutes a unified and integrated audit approach that incl udes internal control documentation and review, office compliance, real-time office control, and substantive testing. The real-time control of an OIS requi res the devel opment of matchi ng OIS hardware controls and operating system controls for tracing, scheduling, and monitoring office activity. Further development of this work and integration of the audit system in an OIS would virtually result in a continuous audit