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Audit informatization process
Since 1990s, with the development of information technology and the popularization of computerized accounting, the audit work has changed from manual audit to computer audit. Computer audit software, as an auxiliary audit tool, was born in the early days, just to check whether there are any mistakes in accounting and whether there are any disadvantages in finance. It provides the basic functions of financial revenue and expenditure audit, and provides some computer support for audit field work. This stage belongs to the primary stage of audit software-"the era of financial revenue and expenditure operation software package".
With the development of economy and the progress of society, the function of audit has already gone beyond the scope of audit, involving the audit of all work such as economy, efficiency and benefit. This requires that the supporting audit information products are no longer limited to the audit of financial revenue and expenditure, but should be extended to the audit of various business data. After the financial fraud cases of Enron and WorldCom broke out, Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was promulgated in 2002. "Audit" has been highly valued by the government, enterprises and administrative organs, and has become an indispensable key means for enterprise internal control, information system governance and security risk control. China State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) and other industry authorities have also recently issued internal audit management requirements, which greatly accelerated the process of auditing informatization construction.
With the launch of a series of audit software products by UFIDA in 2008, massive data analysis can be carried out on the large-scale "business data to be audited" of the audited object "key funds, important fields and important departments", so as to realize comprehensive detection and automatic early warning of the whole enterprise resources, and make the traditional financial revenue and expenditure audit develop into a comprehensive data audit, from audit business to audit business and audit management integration, and from post-audit to post-audit networking audit, thus realizing the supervision function.
Inevitability of audit informatization
1. Audit informatization is an important aspect of audit technology innovation. From the point of view of immune process, immune recognition is the premise of exerting immune function. In order to play the function of "immune system", audit should first carry out "immune identification". The "immune identification" of audit can not be separated from advanced audit technology and methods. Just like the traditional diagnosis and treatment method of "looking, smelling, asking and cutting", it has developed into various high-tech diagnosis and treatment methods. With the rapid development of information technology, the traditional manual audit technology has been severely challenged by computer technology. The informatization of audit objects requires that audit means must be informatization, otherwise auditors will face the helpless situation that they can't open accounts in the door. Therefore, the most important thing in the current audit technology innovation is how to realize the informationization of audit means and how to take the road of strengthening audit through science and technology. Otherwise, in the face of "virus", the immune system can't identify and confirm, and its function can't play.
2. The inherent advantages of the information-based auditing method are consistent with the features of the "immune system" function. Audit really plays the role of "immune system", which is different from conventional supervision and audit, mainly reflected in "three natures". First, macro. Traditional audit focuses on the specific fiduciary responsibility relationship, while audit immune system theory focuses on the fiduciary responsibility relationship in the whole social and economic system. By dissecting the sparrow, this paper comprehensively analyzes the direct and deep-seated causes of the problems found in the audit, and puts forward targeted and operable suggestions to provide a basis for leading macro-decision. Information audit breaks through the shackles of the original manual conditions, which is obviously more conducive to analyzing and auditing a large number of business and financial data of the unit, including the information system itself. The second is foresight. The biggest function of the immune system is to identify, confirm and clear the virus in time when it invades, rather than waiting for the virus to spread before dealing with it, which reflects foresight. Information audit is very suitable for this. On the one hand, the work efficiency is greatly improved; on the other hand, some new technologies, such as online audit, can make the audit gateway move forward, intervene in advance, track at any time, find existing problems and solve them in time; Third, it is constructive. The constructive role of audit work lies in that audit is the basic requirement for economic and social operation of "immune system". We should make scientific analysis on the basis of comprehensive understanding, try our best to reveal the reasons of system and mechanism, and put forward constructive suggestions fundamentally to promote the stable and healthy operation of the national economy. Constructiveness and macrocosm complement each other, and informatization audit realizes the organic combination of micro and macro, especially the macro analysis of data, which is conducive to putting forward constructive opinions.
Basic principles of audit informatization
1. The situation varies from place to place, and each audit institution also has its own situation. The implementation of audit informatization should proceed from objective reality and practical needs. At present, the most important thing is to prevent greed and "rushing for success". We should do things within the scope of human, material and financial resources, and combine reality with long-term planning.
2. Pay attention to the application of principles. The purpose of taking the road of audit informatization is to adapt to the development of information society and give full play to the function of audit immune system. Only by fully applying it to audit practice can this goal be achieved, otherwise, no amount of software and hardware facilities and equipment will be put into use.
3. The principle of openness. At present, the achievements of the gold audit project are being promoted in an all-round way, which is the unified requirement of the audit informatization work. However, the unique working methods, experiences and achievements formed by local audit institutions in the audit informatization work should be inherited and developed, and cannot be easily abandoned. It is necessary to encourage "the Eight Immortals to cross the sea and show their magical powers". Informatization is not only a matter for high-level audit institutions, but also should be open. Good achievements in local work, such as expert experience and practical small software, should be vigorously promoted.
4. The principle of full participation. Audit informatization involves all auditors, and no one can stand idly by in this audit technology change, otherwise they will lose their audit qualification.
Main contents of audit informatization
Taking the road of strengthening audit by science and technology, the overall goal of building an information-based audit system is to effectively perform the audit supervision duties of national audit under the condition of informationization, give full play to the function of audit immune system, build a national audit information system, cultivate audit teams that adapt to informationization, comprehensively improve audit supervision ability, and finally realize audit informationization. At present, it mainly includes the following contents:
First of all, it is a complex equipment system. Audit institutions at all levels should attach great importance to the construction of hardware facilities, which is the basic work of taking the road of audit informatization. With the sufficient financial resources of the government, the attention of leaders at all levels and the efforts of audit institutions, the information equipment of audit institutions can basically meet the needs of the work, laying a good foundation for promoting this work. The next step is to explore the application of some "sophisticated" equipment in the audit field. For example, in environmental resources audit, some projects need to use special equipment such as GPS. Without these equipment, the audit can't achieve its goal. Therefore, if financial resources permit, scientific and technological equipment can not be satisfied with daily use, and long-term planning should be made.
The second is a powerful on-site audit implementation system. Audit should play the role of immune system, find problems in time and eliminate "virus". On-site audit is the key. Therefore, it is necessary to build a powerful on-site audit implementation system to realize the informatization of audit implementation process, which is also the key to audit technology innovation. The "Golden Audit Project" implemented by the National Audit Office has developed three types of application systems, one of which is the "on-site audit implementation system", that is, the AO system, which basically realizes the informationization of the audit process. The system makes auditors get rid of the traditional paper, pen and abacus, and greatly improves the efficiency and quality of audit. The powerful function makes the economic and business data of the audited entity in the hands of auditors. The comprehensive popularization and application of the system and the realization of docking with other systems will be the focus of the next audit informatization work.
Third, it is a full coverage data networking system. The theory of audit immune system regards maintaining the security of national economic and social system as the "first priority" of audit work. At present, a complete information operation system has been established in finance, taxation, finance, insurance and social security. In order to find problems in the early stage of audit, it is necessary to check the data in the above information system and the system itself effectively in advance and at any time. Therefore, it is necessary for auditing to connect with relevant systems in order to intervene in advance or increase the frequency of supervision, and effectively supervise the operation of state-owned funds and the management of state-owned assets. From the national level, finally realize the networking of "golden audit" system with "golden finance", "golden tax" and "golden insurance" system; At the grassroots level, before networking is realized at the national level, we can explore localized networking methods and realize local networking audit as soon as possible.
Fourth, it is a perfect office system. Office automation is the basic requirement of audit informatization. The office automation of audit institutions should have two major functions, one is to realize the automatic transmission of official documents with local governments and other departments, and the other is to realize the automatic transmission of official documents with audit institutions at higher and lower levels (including internal institutions). At the same time, the office system should be effectively combined with the audit site implementation system to improve work efficiency and save administrative costs and resources. At present, audit institutions at all levels have basically established an office system based on the local government affairs network.
Fifth, it is a scientific audit management system. Audit management mainly includes background management and on-site management, from project planning, fund arrangement and personnel adjustment to the establishment of project database, laws and regulations library and personnel training. , in addition to on-site audit implementation, can be included in the audit management system. Establishing a scientific audit management system and realizing the management informationization of audit institutions can effectively promote the standardization and upgrading of audit management. At present, the audit management system developed by UFIDA is a powerful audit management system and an important part of audit informatization.
Sixth, it is to allocate a reasonable talent team. Talent is the foundation of all career development, and auditing is no exception. Whether the immune function can play a role depends on the auditor's professionalism, sense of responsibility, ability and level. At present, the number and quality of auditors in the national audit system can not meet the actual needs, especially the needs of audit informationization, and there are few compound talents. Therefore, first, we should keep good personnel in check and select talents who really meet the audit needs to enter the audit institutions; Second, we must ensure the training of personnel, attach importance to the follow-up education of auditors, and put computer application training in an important position; Third, we should make a good combination of auditors. Before each project is implemented, it is of great significance to scientifically and reasonably allocate the audit team personnel, consider the auditor's experience, computer application ability and even age, and try to form an audit team with reasonable structure. Fourth, select outstanding talents, cultivate and set up a number of models, and train them to become the backbone and backbone of audit informatization.
Main methods of promoting audit informatization
At present, audit institutions at all levels have formed their own practices and experiences on the road of informatization, and they should learn to learn from each other's strengths. The methods with regularity mainly include the following points: First, we attach great importance to them ideologically. Facing the current situation, audit institutions at all levels should clear their minds and clearly realize that the construction of audit informatization is related to the survival and development of audit, the improvement of audit quality and efficiency, the professional quality and skills of auditors and the capacity building of audit institutions. Only by taking the road of strengthening audit through science and technology can we give full play to the role of audit and give play to the function of "audit immune system", and audit can have a foothold.
Second, it is the guarantee provided by the system. The system can provide a stable, orderly and predictable environment for people or organizations in the economic and social system, reduce uncertainty, reduce the cost of obtaining and processing information, help to make correct decisions, improve work efficiency and achieve personal or organizational goals. Only the ideological attention can not guarantee the further development of audit informatization. To implement the system, audit institutions at all levels should incorporate informatization construction into the "top-ranking project", formulate informatization development plans, establish rules and regulations, and incorporate informatization work into daily work assessment.
Third, study and train hard. The lack of compound talents can not be solved in a short time, so it is particularly important to study and train existing personnel. First of all, leaders should set an example first. The power of example is infinite, leading cadres are easy to lead other auditors in the face of difficulties; Secondly, it needs the participation of all staff to form an atmosphere. It is necessary to further enhance the initiative and consciousness of auditors in learning and applying computer auditing, and create a strong atmosphere for learning and applying computer auditing software. The third is to provide guarantee for the follow-up education, ensure that there is a certain time for follow-up education every year, and increase the content and intensity of computer audit training.
The fourth is to seek a breakthrough in application. Practice has proved that the key to the effect of audit informatization lies in how auditors organically combine computer technology with on-site audit. The purpose of audit informatization is to improve audit efficiency and quality, especially audit quality, and find problems that cannot be found under manual conditions, which is also the fundamental reason why audit informatization can play the role of immune system to a greater extent. The effect of computer audit is the only criterion to test the quality of audit informatization. Only by making a breakthrough in application can we draw the conclusion that informatization has produced good results.