Audit working papers in Electronic Environment – effective usage and maintenance CA Roopa Kamath N
Audit working papers in Electronic Environment
– effective usage and maintenance
CA Roopa Kamath N
Aim Working papers Management – traditionally Technology breakthrough – redefining
audit trail‘Shared drive chaos’Electronic working paper management –
small and medium practitioners perspectiveWay forward Professional avenues
Working papers – traditionally important reference points
for the entire audit lifecycle,
a check-list-type-philosophyMyth - working papers only
apply to the fieldwork phase of the audit cycle.
Bulky and deteriorates with lapse of time
Common issuesPeople oriented Pen and paper basedstandards for exactly
what must be included in working papers or how they are prepared are loosely defined, resulting in inconsistent practices and quality issues among audit departments.
Technology - BreakthroughBetter Analysis with the assistance of tools like
spreadsheets, open office, etc Faster and vast coverageRelieves from the routine work Better presentation and unlimited storage
Electronic working paper – is it that simple?
Shared-drive ‘chaos’ organize and store audit
project files on network storage or email servers
Over time, file management becomes unruly, inefficient and costly.
Prone to version control errors. Select, share and/or update a wrong or outdated version of audit report.
Electronic working paper – is it that simple?Different methods of preparing
working papers and reporting status.
inconsistent processes and project workflows that are difficult to track and control.
The result, is inconsistency in the quality of the underlying audit work;
variation in the look and feel of working papers documentation;
unpredictable productivity; inconsistent client experiences;
Electronic Working paper managementAcceptance to change Training the personnel on the
systems and application software's
Standardise Folder structure Where, when, what and how to
storeDefine a file naming conventions
Eg : Name of client_Nature of report_etc
Electronic Working paper managementUse Version control techniqueEffective usage of technology
Calculations, Charts, Pivots, Graphs, Sorting, filters, Formatting.
Digital working paper managementDefine and prepare working paper
preparation manuals,What to record and how to record What is the type of application used
Data capturing mechanism
Electronic Working paper Management Define accessibility and security
guidelinesWho can access what kind of data Encrypting confidential data
Data protection and confidentiality Disabling third party emailing options
Usage of IBM Lotus notes, Outlook. Restricted internet access. Define communication channel
CC and bcc .
Maintaining Regular back ups and storage
Storing in pdf and embedded formats Encrypting and compressing data
Indexing and fragmenting dataMaintain an issue query logMove with the technology updates
Professional gateway Understanding and analysing
trends better and faster - Consultation
Allows to concentrate on the core area of business.
In house user specific design based on industry and clients
Go Green initiative – Less paper to paper less office
Process/work driven task force from people driven environment
Way forward – related areas of professional expertise
Automating few routine audit process.Electronic data is throughout,BCP and DRP techniqueCloud based technique. Attaining ISO for working papersCarbon credits Forensic and Fraud investigation
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