The Crisis over How to Audit in a Crisis

The PCAOB's standing advisory committee examines the task of recession-time auditing, including the likelihood that fraud will be a growing problem.

Alan Rappeport, CFO.com | US
October 22, 2008

the right accounting software combats audit fraud

Companies thinking they can continue to get by with under-performing accounting software will need to rethink their positions. Coupled with greater fears of audit fraud in a recession are greater chances of increasing regulation to combat the threat. As a standard protocol, accounting system software should contain: ý Name of the user who posted the batch on every posting report ý A unique audit trail code number on every transactionýthese numbers cannot be duplicated ý Protection against deleting of posted transactions. Transactions must be reversed to correct the entry and show the in/out of mistaken transactions ultimately in the GL ý Sophisticated, multi-levels of security to prevent unauthorized access Paul Farrell, CEO, Wizard Productivity Systems LP; pfarrell@wizardus.com

Posted by Paul Farrell | October 28, 2008 09:27 pm

auditing in crisis

True we auditors are facing it rough .we may not escape the law on auditors laibility. This has not been catered for before,auditing under recession or depression. Now laws must define also this change. In my view, fraud auditing and forensic audit approaches ,and complaince auditing/performance auditing perspective, should be the guiding point to audit entities before financial statements can be auditided. Basing on their can fiancial audits be performed to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of an entiy audited under depression. Balance sheet audits cannot be fairly performed either, how will they even base their fair value valuations etc. In the above,i'm justing thinking loud food for thought! God Bless! Richard Gudoi Gid'Agui CIA,CFE,CFSA,MSc.Audit(UK),MBA

Posted by RICHARD BERNARD GUDOI GID'AGUI | October 25, 2008 08:37 am

Moody's and the like

Given the role of Moody's and the like over the last years, their lack of performance or relevance evidenced by what we are living now, I don't understand they don't close themselves down. No, they continue as usual, as if they don't have any responsiblity. Strange ...

Posted by Paul Berquin | October 23, 2008 11:34 am

Real -time audit is a must

real time audit is the name of the game now !

Posted by Wael Bibi | October 22, 2008 08:26 pm