KRiskSM: A Computerized Decision Aid for Client Acceptance and Continuance Risk Assessments

This paper describes the development and implementation of KRisk, an innovative technology‐enabled auditor decision aid for making client acceptance and continuance risk assessments. KRisk, developed and designed by KPMG LLP, is part of the firm's audit quality control and risk management processes. In this paper, we discuss the environmental and technological forces that affect auditor business risk management. We also describe important aspects of the development, functionality, and implementation of KRisk. We discuss possible impediments to realizing the full potential of decision aids that have been reported in prior auditing research, and describe how KRisk and related audit quality control procedures implemented at KPMG were designed to overcome such impediments. Also, we present some ideas for scholarly research dealing with auditor business risk management issues, and issues related to the design and use of decision aids in general.

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