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New BNA Portfolio Explores Continuous Auditing Principles

NEWS RELEASE

Contacts:
Mark Carrington
(703) 341-5880

Arlington, Va. (December 28, 2007) – BNA®, publisher of the authoritative and universally recognized Tax Management Portfolios, has released the latest addition to the Accounting Policy and Practice Series – Portfolio 5405-1st Continuous Auditing.

This new portfolio introduces accountants, auditors, managers and regulators to the field of continuous auditing. Continuous auditing contains two main processes: 1) a process of constantly testing transactions based upon criteria prescribed by the auditor and identifies anomalies (exceptions) on which the auditor can perform additional procedures, and 2) a process of continuous control monitoring.

The portfolio discusses the need for new methods of auditing, the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, the drivers of continuous audit and existing research in continuous audit. It presents a basic conceptualization of monitoring, control and continuous reporting and assurance, and focuses on a continuous auditing system basic elements that are accessible to most organizations.

The portfolio describes two ongoing pilot research efforts at large U.S. organizations aimed at monitoring control settings and automating the audit of a continuous data flow. It also establishes guidelines to organizations in the implementation of continuous auditing from the perspective of management. Finally, it examines such issues as what organizational attributes are conducive to continuous auditing implementation and the extent that external auditors can rely on internal auditor's continuous auditing work.

This Portfolio may be cited as BNA Tax and Accounting Portfolio 5405, Alles, Kogan, Vasarhelyi, and Warren, Continuous Auditing (Accounting Policy and Practice Series).

The Portfolio is a project of the Continuous Assurance and Reporting (CAR-Lab) and the Center for Continuous Auditing (CCA) located at Rutgers Business School. CAR-Lab's objective is to develop concepts and technologies to improve audit procedures by publishing its findings in research reports and presenting live demonstrations of promising new technologies to business executives, policy-makers and regulators. The CAR-Lab develops experiments that use actual corporate information to test continuous auditing techniques.

Michael Alles, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Accounting and Information Systems at Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University. Mr. Alles has co-chaired the Executive Committee of the American Accounting Association annual  research symposium. His specialties are corporate governance, continuous auditing and management accounting.

Alexander Kogan, Ph.D., is a Professor of Accounting and Information Systems at the Rutgers Business School. Professor Kogan has received the Rutgers University's Board of Trustees Research Fellowship for Scholarly Excellence and the Research and Service Awards of the Artificial Intelligence/Emerging Technologies Section of the American Accounting Association.

Miklos A. Vasarhelyi, Ph.D., MBA, B.S., is the KPMG Professor of Accounting Information Systems and Director of the Continuous Auditing and Reporting Laboratory (CARLAB) at the Rutgers Business School.  He is also the Technology Consultant at the AT&T Laboratories.  Professor Vasarhelyi has taught executive programs on electronic commerce to many large international organizations including GE, J&J, Eli Lilly, Baxter, ADL, Volvo, Siemens, Chase Bank, and AT&T.

J. Donald Warren, Jr., Ph.D., CPA, is Director of the Center for Continuous Auditing. He is also Director of the Masters of Accountancy in Financial Accounting. Professor Warren practiced accounting and auditing with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for 31 years. He served in many capacities that included directing the IT audit practice and serving as a national consulting partner on accounting and auditing matters and the firm's liaison to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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About BNA®
BNA is the foremost publisher of print and electronic news, analysis, and reference products, including the recently launched Accounting Policy & Practice Series.  BNA publications intensely cover legal and regulatory developments for professionals in business and government. BNA is the oldest wholly employee-owned company in the United States, and produces more than 350 news and information services – including Daily Report for Executives and Daily Tax Report – widely respected for comprehensive and objective reporting and analysis.

For more information about the BNA Tax Management Portfolios, call (800) 372.1033.