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Accounting Procedures for Internal Control
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AuditNet®
Community
Sponsor News!
The AuditNet® community has grown by leaps and bounds over the past ten
years thanks to your continued support. Yes it is hard to imagine but it has
been a decade since this community was created! Support AuditNet® by
supporting our sponsors.
Without sponsor and affiliate advertising and contributions from the AuditNet®
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This month check out
Patton
& Patton Software a software vendor that has provided quality flowcharting
software since 1982. Flow Charting 5 is the company’s latest release and
combines speed, power, and flexibility to meet flowcharting and
diagramming needs for the audit community. Remember: visiting sponsors helps support
AuditNet®.
Coordinating the Internal Audit and Compliance functions
This article discusses how Internal Audit and Compliance functions work
together -- or in some cases combine into a single function -- to ensure all
business risks are managed effectively. Because of Sarbanes-Oxley and other
corporate governance requirements, these functions are being drawn together
on a number of issues, including investigations and responding to
whistleblowers. In this article, Audit and Compliance Directors share their
approaches and procedures.
This article was contributed by Protiviti KnowledgeLeader, an online
service providing tools, templates, and other resources for internal audit
and risk management. Free trials available at
www.knowledgeleader.com. For
a limited time KnowledgeLeader memberships are available for the reduced
rate of $500 per year. Tell them you heard about it from AuditNet.org.
Click here for the
article!
Controls Effectiveness Survey Results
The Labor-Saving Evidence the PCAOB Forgot to Mention
As I write, the SEC's website is inviting comments on the PCAOB's rules
for auditing the effectiveness of internal controls over financial
reporting. Take this document as a guide to auditing internal controls
effectiveness and you will be following an inefficient approach that will
cost you far more than it should.
To learn why click here!
Application Audits: A
Primer for Internal Auditing Professionals
By Michael Cooke, Practice
Leader at ACL Services
A maelstrom of market, competitive and regulatory
forces, shapes today’s auditing landscape. The auditing style of yesterday,
with its focus on risk matrices and samples, is quickly becoming outdated as
technology rapidly changes the complexion of the auditing environment. Most
notably, the pervasiveness of technology has brought with it speed and
directness to the auditing world. The fact that audits can now be done on a
more continuous and real-time basis has important consequences -- technology
has become both an enabler of audits and a key operational business factor
that must itself be audited.
For the rest of the story click
here!
AuditNet Job Listings
(& more)
Looking for an audit job? Go to the AuditNet®
Audit Jobs
section for the latest job opportunities. 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week you have the ability to not only look at available jobs, but you
can also post your resume, apply for open jobs, research companies and
obtain career advice. If you are in the market for a new job, make AuditNet®
your first stop to check out what's available.
This is just another benefit of using AuditNet®
as your one stop
shop for all your audit and career resources.
Click here for more jobs!
Looking for Auditors?
If your company has any audit job vacancies that you are
looking to fill, have your HR people contact AuditNet® to post the job and
search for candidates. Using the jobs section helps support AuditNet® as
well! For more information click
here.
AuditNet®
Fraud Auditing Corner
Interviewing:
Achieving Rapport, Part One
By Don Rabon
By identifying a subject's dominant mode of expression - visual,
auditory, or sensation - (and when he or she deviates from it) you can
mirror the subject and begin to achieve rapport.
This article is from The White Paper, the
professional magazine of the
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
and is a regular feature of AuditNet under a new cooperative
relationships and partnership with professional associations in
the
interest of sharing resources for the benefit of the global
AuditNet®
community. .
For the rest of the article from the latest ACFE White Paper click
here.
Fraud: New Directions
for Detection and Prevention
By Patrick Taylor,
president and CEO of Oversight Technologies.
The dictionary defines fraud as “A deception deliberately
practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain.” Because fraud in
companies takes place at all levels - dishonest employees, light-fingered
retail customers, conniving vendors, and corrupt managers – it has become a
truism that fraud is just one of those things which will always be with us
as long as our venal human nature doesn’t change. Companies have come to
accept this as the way things are; for example, the “common” knowledge that
2% (of sales) is an acceptable figure for “shrinkage”, a euphemism for lost
inventory, kited checks, fake invoices, and other assets evaporating off the
bottom line due to fraud.
For the rest of the article click
here!
AuditNet® Resource List Updates
Click here for the new links!
Please let us know of links that are not
working!
Free Tools for Auditors
Sarbanes-Oxley Software
To address the mounting debate about the requirement to
document the
internal controls in order to comply with SOX, a new software is now
available free of charge.
Click
here for
details.
An
Auditor's Travel Guide
by Jean-Louis Vergaert
"Following a high level interest of the audit community in
the cultural aspect of international auditing, one of our fellow auditors,
Jean-Louis Vergaert, has written a comprehensive book:
An Auditor's Travel
Guide. This book includes many practical, no-nonsense travel tips, and a
personal review of 37 countries, with more to come. It is independent,
unbiased, and free of any sponsorship and advertising. It is hoped that this
book, available free of charge, will give useful tips and advice to the ever
growing traveling auditors community, and be of entertaining reading to all
of us."
The only periodical of its kind bringing useful and timely
advice and insights into the prevention detection, and investigation of all
forms of computer and Internet crime. The April 2004 issue includes the
following articles: how to build a cyber-security policy with teeth, how to
gather e-mail evidence when the evidence is gone and more. For more information
visit www.cybercrimefighter.net
AuditNet® Conference & Training News
Want to announce your professional association
conference to the global audit community?
Send us conference name, date and URL details or your
N.A.L.G.A. 2004
Annual Conference, Richmond, VA. May 23-26
2004 IIA International Conference Sydney, Australia
June 20-23, 2004
IIA Eastern Regional Conference
Hershey, Pennsylvania August 22-25, 2004
IIA Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference
Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
October 17-20, 2004
2004 ACFE Fraud
Conferences and Training
2004 IIA
Conferences and Training
AuditNet® Vendor News
Check here for the latest news from our AuditNet®
sponsors!
AuditNet®
Statistics
For
those who like to wade through the details on how popular AuditNet®
is, click
here for the current stats.
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The Auditor's Guide to Internet Resources, 2nd Edition!
Order it Now!
 Embedded Risk
Management Survey
A new survey about risk management has been launched online to find
out more about what risk management specialists and ordinary managers
want from 'embedded' risk management. When the results are available,
probably next month via AuditNet®, they should shed interesting light
on differences in view between these two groups, and on what people
think 'embedded' should really mean. The results may have implications
for what internal auditors do to support embedded risk management, and
for their knowledge needs.
The questionnaire presents 3 simple choices and asks you what you
have experienced, and what you would like to experience.
Please help by taking the survey at
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.leitch1/icd/embedquiz/ and by
strongly encouraging colleagues to participate, especially if they are
NOT risk management specialists, but are in the sort of roles where
they might have to attend CRSA workshops or fill in forms certifying
that their area is under control. That's vital if this survey is to
work.
Auditor on the
Net!
Google for
Auditors: What’s All the Hype About?
Google recently announced that it will offer stock to the public in
what has become the most anticipated initial public offering in years.
So what is all the hype about? I can tell you from my perspective that
I have greatly appreciated what Google offers to auditors for quite
some time. I get asked a LOT of questions by auditors from around the
world and my search engine of choice is Google. I google (yes, I use
it as a verb) every query to find answers and solutions to problems.
My wife frequently asks for information ranging from the contact
information for an editor at a newspaper to resources for her new
book:
How to Say It When You Don’t Know What to Say: The Right Words for
Difficult Times. Immediately, I google for the answer. While I
recognize that there are other search options available I google
everything and you should to. The reason is that the Google search
technology (which is a secret) provides the most accurate and focused
results of any search tool including Yahoo, AOL or MSN. Besides the
accuracy it is also the fastest tool available (and speed is important
in this day and age). The AuditNet® web site uses Google for searching
the site as well. Just go to
www.auditnet.org/search.htm and you can test it out as it defaults
to a site specific search. If you want to search the Web then just
select “Search WWW”. Now if I could only raise enough cash to bid on a
block of Google stock I would be in Google Heaven. Hmmm maybe I should
just google up “investment opportunities?”
Jim Kaplan
Auditor on the Net
If you have a tip on how you are using
the Internet or software applications for auditing send them to
editor@auditnet.org Watch for
more Internet boot camp tips from the auditing Internet guru!
Audit Work Programs
Corner
Auditors
Sharing Audit Programs and Working Papers
The following audit programs, ICQs, checklist
or working papers were added this
month. They are in
 format unless noted otherwise. Some may only be available in
exchange for an audit work program contribution. They are also available in alternate
format by email in exchange for a contribution of an audit work
program, ICQ or checklist.
Beginning in August 2003 all new programs contributed will include the
date the program was added to the inventory (mm/yy). This was at
the suggestion of an AuditNet® user.
-
AS 400 ICQ (May 04)
-
Bank Security Procedures (By request - requires
contribution) (May 04)
-
Branch ICQ (May 04)
-
Circuit Fiber Procurement ICQ (May 04)
-
Human Resources (May 04)
-
Finance & Administration (May 04)
-
Insider Trading (May 04) (By request - requires
contribution) (May 04)
-
IT Security Control Objectives Audit Program (May
04)
-
Kiting Audit Program (May 04)
-
Know Your Customers Audit Policies and Procedures
(May 04)
-
Location Audit Program (May 04)
-
Microsoft Server SQL Audit Work Pack (Contribution
Required) (May 04)
-
PeopleSoft Security Work Program (By request -
requires contribution) (May 04)
-
Reinsurance Ceded (Individual) Audit Program
(Contribution Required) (May 04)
-
Reinsurance Assumed (Individual) Audit Program
(Contribution Required) (May 04)
-
UNUM Reinsurance Treaty File Audit Program
(Contribution Required) (May 04)
-
Reinsurance Assumed Audit Program (By request -
requires contribution) (May 04)
-
Revenue Cycle Control Matrix (May 04)
-
Sales Office Operations Audit (May 04)
-
SAP Reports Request (May 04)
-
Store Visit Non Conformity Report (May 04)
-
User Access Controls Work Program (SOX) (May 04)
Audit Documents in the
Queue!
The following audit documents will be
posted next month. Interested in them now? Send an audit work program,
ICQ, checklist or other audit template and receive them via e-mail.
Your contribution must include your name and email address.
-
ABW Conversion Audit Program (June 04)
-
Bank Reconciliation Audit Program (June 04)
-
Climate Change (Government) ICQ (June 04)
-
Computer Data Processing ICQ (June 04)
-
Cost Control, Inventories and Stores Audit
Checklist (June 04)
-
Financial Audit Program (June 04)
-
Human Rights ICQ (June 04)
-
Individual Retirement Account Program (June 04)
-
Individual Retirement Account ICQ (June 04)
-
Inventory Audit Program (June 04)
-
Lease Audit Program (June 2004)
-
Leave Usage (June 2004)
-
Obesity Reduction Strategy ICQ (June 04)
-
Overseas Bank Accounts Audit Program (June 04)
-
Poverty Reduction Strategy (Government) ICQ (June
04)
-
Publishing Policy ICQ (June 04)
-
SAP Access Risk Procedures Matrix (June 04)
-
SAP Audit & Control Points (June 04) (Contribution
Required)
-
S-OX SAP Inventory Cycle ICQ (June 04)
(Contribution Required)
-
Vote Buying (Government) ICQ (June 04)
-
Windows NT 4.0 (June 04)
-
Working Capital Management Audit Program (June 04)
AuditNet®
What's
New This Month?
This month Matthew Leitch provides the results and
conclusions from his control effectiveness survey. I also posted a
new survey from Matthew for embedded risk management. Please help out by taking
the survey. I reviewed Corporate Fraud: Case Studies in Detection
and Prevention. There are many new audit programs in the queue for
the AuditNet® community. All this and more! The best
way to find all the resources on the site is by going to the
Virtual Library or use
the site search.
AuditNet®
CAATT Corner
"Searching for Fraud - Five
Tests for SAS 99 Compliance"
by Carolyn Newman ASI
Find out how to use IDEA to search through electronic
data files for evidence of fraudulent or unusual transactions during
an audit.
For the rest of the story click
here.
AuditNet®
Software Compliance Audit Corner
The Risks of Old PCs
Article provided by Rob Harmer Consulting
Services
“It’s 2004 and Year 2000 is about to hit us again!”
First reactions on reading the headline above will make you think we
had “lost the plot, totally”. Your reaction is likely to be “OH,
NO”, not another “the sky is falling” message, we had that detail
all through the years 1997, 1998, and 1999 which is now 4 to 5 years
ago! Before you turn off, please read on as there are issues that
CEOs, Managers, Directors need to be made aware of to reduce their
personal risk.
For the rest of the story click
here.
Your Secret Weapon in the War on Fraud
The April 2004 issue of this fraud newsletter features
articles on how to catch fraudsters in the lies they tell, how to
recover stolen assets before it's too late and more. AuditNet® users qualify
for special rates on this publication. For more information click here.
The AuditNet® Audit Bookstore
Corner
Looking for books on auditing related
topics? We suggest using the AuditNet® bookstore.
The bookstore focuses on Internal Audit but includes other related subjects
as well. AuditNet® uses Amazon to power the bookstore so each
purchase you make through this link helps support AuditNet®.
Book Review
Corporate Fraud: Case Studies in Detection and Prevention
By John D. O’Gara
The title tells it all in that this author
approaches the subject from a case study approach. Many auditors will
appreciate the fraud detection and prevention by demonstration and
example format.
For the complete review click
here.
FREE! The
Auditor's Guide to Internet Resources 2nd Edition
Interested in a free copy of The Auditor's Guide to Internet
Resources, 2nd Edition? Write an article for the next newsletter on how
you are integrating the Internet in auditing. If your article is selected, I
will send you either the book or CD. Send your article to editor@auditnet.org
AuditNet® Partner Discounts
Check out all the software vendors that offer
discounts to the AuditNet® community.
AuditNet® It pays to be a member!
For information on partner discounts click
here.
Preview of Coming Attractions!
AuditNet® has selected WorldLingo software to offer translations of the Web
site into languages of
AuditNet® visitors. The Instant Web Site Translator, a
turnkey Machine Translation solution will give AuditNet® the ability to provide auditors with speedy
multilingual translations in seconds. One simple click will allow a
non-English speaking visitor to view the
AuditNet® site in their own language. Another example of
how we are making
AuditNet® the universal tool for the global audit
community.
AuditNet will begin by offering translations from English
to Spanish. Other languages will be added based on demand.
The AuditNet Monograph Series provides
useful guides for all levels of auditors from juniors right up to audit
directors. New guides are under development for International Auditing:
Cultural Considerations, and Internet Search Skills for Auditors. We are also
working on creating a monograph for Evaluating Internal Controls in
Government. If you are interested in developing a monograph on a
contract basis, send an email to editor@auditnet.org
Watch for new articles from contributors. We have
some new publications in the queue for review including Auditing the Human
Resources Function and Payables Test Set for IDEA, so watch the newsletter. Have an idea for a column? Send it to
editor@auditnet.org
AuditNet® continues adding new specialized resources for
auditors. Watch the newsletter and keep checking the Library page for updates
and new
resources.
Typical
Issues Arising from Rent Audits
by Kastuv Ray
Internal
Audit departments within Local Government examine the controls in place for
the rent debit system every year as this system is integral to the
functioning of the organization.
Click here
for the rest of the story!
AuditNet®
Feedback
Very nice site. Thanks for your hard work in this site.
I'm glad I stopped by and will again, many times.
I was very pleased to stumble upon this website. It has
so much useful information. I feel as though it is very important for
auditors to have a means of sharing information and experience. I have
bookmarked this site and plan to reference it often.
What a wonderful site for all auditors to network and
share ideas, programs and experiences.
This is an excellent site, thanks for all your hard work
in creating and maintaining this site, I hope I can use it more often, as it
appears there are many audit topics I am interested in! Thanks
For more comments click
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