Online Auditing

Considering the increase in IT development and the possibility to process a hugeamount of data in a short time and recent financial crisis, the current auditing methodfaced a lot of criticism. The ICT effect on reporting and auditing has been caused bythe environmental necessity, since the old methods were abandoned by the moderntechnologies emersion and their data quality and relatively the decision makingquality have decrease. Such issues have led to a need for a new approach in auditingwhich results in continuous accreditation toward companies’ financial information.This approach is called the continuous online auditing which could be defined as theauditing among databases. This type of auditing is a kind of continuous auditing whichthe auditing evidence is provided in a without paper environment (electronically)simultaneous or with a short-delay. The following study introduces and defines a newtype of auditing called online auditing through a general review on recent revolutionsin auditing which are caused by the network economy and data society improvements.This research will elaborate the data collection techniques in various auditing systemsalong with introducing the effective factors in online auditing formation, developmentand its prerequisites. Also, the considerations which were used in China on data transferaccuracy and safety during online auditing and security solutions are explained. Finally, itshould be said that the Internet development and fast development in ITand E-commercedevelopment in recent years have changed the timing and evidence for auditing process.This has made the continuous online auditing possible because of technology andeconomy but also has made it necessary.