An Analysis of Potential Legal Liability Incurred Through Audit Expert Systems

The introduction of expert systems technology into the audit environment has opened a new avenue of auditor legal liability. This paper examines the potential impact expert systems will have on auditor liability. The presentation of this new avenue of auditors' legal liability explores both the potential for litigation under failure of auditor/expert system collaboration to yield prudent decisions and the failure to use an available expert system. The risks evolving from failure to use an available expert system include the possibility that the system could be used against the auditor in the courtroom. While case law will ultimately determine the bounds of this liability, this paper acquaints the reader with the important legal issues involved and the varied outcomes that could emerge. It should also be noted that while the specific example presented in this paper relates to the audit profession, the legal concepts are of equivalent concern to other professions enduring broad implementation of expert systems.     

An Expert System Approach to Audit Planning and Evaluation in the Belief-Function Framework

The main purpose of this article is to discuss an expert system approach for audit planning and evaluation using belief functions. First, we show how to use belief functions to represent strengths of various types of evidence such as positive, negative, or mixed items of evidence in an audit. The situation where one item of evidence relates to more than one audit objective or account is of special interest here, particularly the evidence that provides different levels of support to different audit objectives or accounts. Second, we illustrate the use of Auditor's Assistant, an expert system shell, for planning and evaluation of an audit. For this illustration, we use an actual audit program of one of the Big Six accounting firms for the accounts receivable account of a health care unit. Third, two types of sensitivity analyses are performed on the evidential network (audit program) created above. The first one determines the effects of the location of evidence in the network and the second one deals with the effects of variations in the auditor's judgment of the strength of evidence on the overall belief on each variable in the network. Finally, practical implications of the findings of the sensitivity analyses are discussed in the article.     

PLANET: An Expert System for Audit Risk Assessment and Planning

PLANET is an expert system for audit risk assessment and audit test selection. At present it is undergoing worldwide field testing by Price Waterhouse audit teams. As a case study, PLANET illustrates a complex interplay of audit methodology issues and expert systems development techniques, and reinforces the validity of many of the widely reported lessons learned about successful expert systems development during the 1980s. However, the experience also challenges elements of this received wisdom while exposing special issues arising in the development of expert systems in the field of auditing.     

The Definition and Diffusion of Expert Systems: An Empirical Survey of Belgian External Audit Firms

This paper reports empirical results on the definition and diffusion of expert systems (ESs). The findings are based on a questionnaire that was sent to Belgian external audit firms in June 1993. Audit firms were chosen as the questionnaire's target group because another part of the survey was aimed at gathering information concerning the audit of ESs. The definition section deals with the importance of several ES characteristics as seen by the sample of practitioners. Results are compared with opinions from theoretical literature and reveal significant differences. The section on diffusion of ESs is intended to provide an indication of the extent of development and usage of ESs in todays business life. On the basis of the sample of audit firms that reported on their auditees' situations, diffusion rates are rather low. Each of these sections is introduced by a short literature review. As both sections are largely based on the results of a survey, relevant details are included in the first section.     

A Framework for Evaluating Process Quality for Audit Engagements

Audit quality has been researched from several perspectives. Most recent research has been oriented toward end user surrogates for audit quality. This study, on the other hand, focuses on the development of a more objective and comprehensive measure of audit quality based on an evaluation of the actual audit processes completed for a unique engagement. To achieve this objective, over 200 audit practitioners participated in a series of structured group processes designed to elicit group consensus, first on the factors affecting audit process quality and subsequently on objective measures of deviations in each of the identified factors. A separate group of approximately 100 practitioners provided relative weights for each identified factor's effect on overall audit quality. The combination of measures and corresponding weighting factors is used as the foundation for a comprehensive framework for evaluating audit process quality.     

Local Government Audit Committees: A Behaviour Framework for Effective Audit Committee Performance

Stakeholders will always be more receptive to the creation of structured and credible systems that pull participants towards good governance outcomes which serve to remove temptation rather than systems that attempt to push or otherwise coerce people into a state of compliance. This paper uses behavioural theory as an interpretative lens to explain the actions and effectiveness of public sector audit committees. Financial probity, independence to avoid conflicts of interest and conformance to ethical practices are the tenets of effective governance. Audit committees can be one of the mechanisms to monitor the risks of the public sector and the executive management team especially where ‘self‐interest’ conflicts with the governance requirements of legislation, societal norms and community expectations. An effective audit committee can provide behavioural oversight of governance processes, although one cannot legislate for integrity and honesty. The presence of an effective and contributing audit committee in local government negates a councillor from listening or subverting positive actions and provides a signal to external stakeholders of organisational risks.     

构建“大财政审计”监督框架

本文通过对我国财政审计发展历程的回顾,指出财政审计工作在特定的历史阶段,要适应当时的社会经济环境和政策需要不断进行调整完善。本文认为,随着我国财税体制改革逐步深化,客观上要求审计机关树立大财政审计观念,构建大财政审计监督框架,进一步强化对大财政审计工作的领导,积极探索科学的审计方式,努力适应新形势对财政审计工作提出的新要求。     

Analysis of Accounting Expert Systems Citations: An Alternative Accounting Classification Scheme

This paper compares and contrasts a paper by Shanker, Nilakanta, and Norris (1992) that quantitatively analyzes citations with Brown (1989). The analytical approach used by Shanker et al. is discussed in light of the background and limitations of the original study, the accounting classification scheme used for the analysis, and classification differences caused by either authors classifying their own articles or someone else classifying the articles based on abstracts. An alternative accounting classification scheme is presented that uses four dimensions to describe and organize the discipline of accounting: accounting tasks, domain, organization type, and service provider. In this context, a number of representative accounting expert systems are classified and discussed. Recommendations are suggested for further research.     

Expert Systems at the Customer Interface

ESCFE (Expert System for Customer Facing Environments) is an integrated expert systems architecture which supports a three-way dialogue between British Telecommunications (BT) customers, staff and its technical and commercial support systems. ESCFE is customer facing—this means that the user interface dialogue is directed explicitly at the customer, as opposed to other expert systems/help desks which have a user interface directed at staff, who then deal with the customer in whatever manner they have been trained. In dealing with the customer, BT staff require a wide range of knowledge concerning the products and services portfolio, internal BT procedures, selling opportunities, customer-care policy and contractual liabilities. This knowledge can be contained within ESCFE. The knowledge is used to support a dialogue which allows for both customer- and staff-driven interaction, and for different levels of expertise in both customers and staff.     

审计专家系统的发展及其启示

作为审计判断辅助工具的审计专家系统是一个能够效仿人类专家决策能力的计算机系统,不但可以减少审计判断的主观性,提高审计判断的一致性进而提高审计判断的质量,而且可以提高审计效率。20世纪80年代以来,专家系统引起了几乎所有科学领域的关注,并在许多领域得到了应用,审计专家系统则受到了各大国际会计公司的重视本文拟就此作简要介绍。审计专家系统的发展情况审计是一个专业性非常强的领域。在审计人员作出审计判断的过程中,既需要审计人员具有扎实的专业知识,也要求其具有丰富的实践经验,符合上述要求的专业人员我们称之为专家。一般认…     

A Multi-Stage Model of Decision Bias: Implications for Expert Systems

The study of the bias processes that affect decision making is crucial in designing expert systems. This study proposes a multi-stage model for decision biases which reconceptualizes cognitive styles and decision heuristics within a framework that borrows heavily from research by Posner and McLeod (1982), Tversky and Kahneman (1973) and Ramaprasad (1987). The framework is tested within the context-bound area of loan making so that the biasing effects of prior experience on decision making can be examined. The results are analyzed with a path-modeling technique (i.e. covariance structural modeling) that allows testing for indirect as well as direct effects. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for expert systems development     

国外政府绩效审计评析与我国绩效审计战略

绩效审计是现代政府审计的发展趋势。本文在总结国外政府绩效审计发展经验的基础上,对国外政府绩效审计进行了全面而系统的评述,对我国政府绩效审计的发展进行了SWOT分析,进而提出了我国政府绩效审计发展的战略目标和战略举措。     

深深浅浅话程序

传说中,会计师的祖先是古埃及的记录员.他们掌管法老的簿记本,清点谷物、黄金及其它财物.其中一些人抵挡不住物质的诱惑开始盗窃、挪用资产.     

中注协就事务所更正审计结论等问题发布信息公告

日前,中国注册会计师协会专家技术援助小组就会计师事务所更正审计结论等问题发布了第2、第3和第4号信息公告,对有关会计师事务所来函询问的问题予以了答复.     

Combining Expert Systems and Hypertext: Opportunities and Obstacles

Hypertext discussions are occurring more frequently at expert systems conferences. Hypertext is not an expert system language or expert system shell, but instead it is simultaneously a method of storing and retrieving data. The growing interest in hypertext in the expert system domain is because the combination of hypertext capabilities and expert systems creates a compelling synergistic relationship (Oren, 1987). During a panel discussion at the Second International Symposium on Expert Systems in Business, Finance and Accounting, Bill Swartout compared traditional expert systems to hypertext by saying that the knowledge base (e.g. the production rules) of an expert system can be thought of as formal knowledge and hypertext can be thought of as informal knowledge. This article will demonstrate how this informal knowledge can add power to traditional expert systems by increasing the flexibility of the explanation facilities and thereby the appeal of the system to a broader range of users. The article also will discuss how expert systems can improve the functionality of hypertext systems by adding intelligence to traditional hypertext systems. This article is divided into three sections. The first describes basic hypertext concepts. The second section shows how hypertext can enhance expert systems and, conversely, how expert systems can enhance hypertext systems. The final section discusses some potential problems and concerns that must be considered when designing a hypertext system.     

Expert Systems in Insurance: A Review and Analysis

The financial services industry and, in particular, the insurance industry has emerged as an important user of expert systems. In the following review we examine evidence of the spread of such systems in insurance, and focus more particularly upon life insurance, where the greatest amount of progress has been made. We attempt to identify the major trends in this area and examine one of the favoured tasks for the implementation of expert systems, namely underwriting. After assessing the current state of work and level of satisfaction in this area, we finally consider the likely direction of future initiatives.     

The Accuracy of Decision Tree Induction in a Noisy Domain for Expert Systems Construction

Many studies have shown that decision tree induction methods could be used to determine rules for expert systems. Pruning techniques are often used to increase the accuracy of an induced decision tree over the instance space. While recent results of decision tree induction show that large samples may be required to induce a decision tree of small error, recent expository studies have used very small sample sizes. In such cases it is of value to obtain a posterior evaluation of the error of the induced concept. In this paper we give three methods to estimate the accuracy of a pruned decision tree. The first method assumes uniform prior distribution. For those cases where uniform prior is not appropriate, we develop a method to obtain appropriate prior using a beta distribution. Finally, we provide a general bound which requires no assumption over the instance space. These results can be used when a pruned decision tree is used to classify the original domain or another close domain.     

基于审计主题的审计学科体系创新研究

审计学科的研究对象是审计现象,审计主题是审计现象的分类框架,也是审计学科构建框架,审计现象分为二类四种:信息主题,包括财务信息和非财务信息;行为主题,包括具体行为和约束具体行为的制度;审计学科分为一般审计学、财务信息审计学、非财务信息审计学、行为审计学和制度审计学,每门审计学再区分为理论和应用两个层级;已经发展起来的审计学主要是财务信息审计学,其它各审计学科还处于较为基础的阶段。