Exploring Continuous Assurance In Practice: Preliminary Insights

The concept of continuous assurance is not new, with a history spanning close to three decades in various guises. Recently there has been renewed attention in the area due to compliance imperatives, trends in governance and risk, anti-fraud measures and technological advances. However significant uncertainty surrounds the practicalities of how continuous assurance may be effectively implemented into an organisation’s governance, risk and compliance (GRC) landscape for auditors and managers. The aim of this paper is to report on the first stage of a research study investigating the adoption and implementation of continuous assurance in an Australian company. A socio-material practice perspective is adopted and Power’s (2007) concept of organised uncertainty is explored to progress thinking in continuous assurance theory and practice. Key findings emerging from this study include the heterogeneous and fluid nature of continuous assurance, the duality of mobility involving system dependencies and audit independence, and the unanticipated usages and politics of information.

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