IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/majpps/02686900510606092.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Employing generalized audit software in the financial services sector

Author

Listed:
  • Roger Debreceny
  • Sook‐Leng Lee
  • Willy Neo
  • Jocelyn Shuling Toh

Abstract

Purpose - Computer assisted audit techniques (CAATs) encompass a range of computerized techniques that internal and external auditors use to facilitate their audit objectives. One of the most important CAATs is generalized audit software (GAS), which is a class of packaged software that allows auditors to interrogate a variety of databases, application software and other sources and then conduct analyzes and audit routines on the extracted or live data. This study seeks to evaluate the nature and extent of the utilization of CAATs in financial institutions. In particular, the study establishes the extent and nature of use of GAS by bank internal auditors and their external auditors. The study is conducted with large local and international commercial banks in Singapore, a major financial center. Given the limited research on GAS in general and in the financial services sector in particular, the study uses exploratory qualitative research. Design/methodology/approach - Qualitative research employing depth interviews with internal and external auditors of financial institutions. Finding - The research finds that the extent and range of use of GAS varies widely between the institutions in the sample. Internal auditors see GAS primarily as a tool for special investigations rather than as a foundation for their regular audit work. External auditors make no use of GAS, citing the inapplicability of this class of tool to the nature of testing the financial statement assertions or the extent or quality of computerized internal controls maintained by the bank. Research limitations/implications - This is a small sample study. While the data are rich, the findings cannot necessarily be extrapolated to broader populations. Practical implications - This study provides guidance on the role that CAATs play in the audit process of financial institutions that is relevant for the audit community. Originality/value - This is the first in‐depth study of the application of CAATs to financial institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Roger Debreceny & Sook‐Leng Lee & Willy Neo & Jocelyn Shuling Toh, 2005. "Employing generalized audit software in the financial services sector," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(6), pages 605-618, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:majpps:02686900510606092
    DOI: 10.1108/02686900510606092
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/02686900510606092/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/02686900510606092/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/02686900510606092?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abdalwali Lutfi & Hamza Alqudah, 2023. "The Influence of Technological Factors on the Computer-Assisted Audit Tools and Techniques Usage during COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, May.
    2. Afsay, Akram & Tahriri, Arash & Rezaee, Zabihollah, 2023. "A meta-analysis of factors affecting acceptance of information technology in auditing," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:majpps:02686900510606092. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.