Untitled - Universidade de Lisboa

Information System Management for Internal Auditor’s Support
Nádia Valls de Almeida 1 and António Trigo 1
1
Coimbra Institute of Accounting and Administration, Portugal
nadiavalls@gmail.com, aribeiro@iscac.pt
Extended abstract
Despite being a relatively recent activity in Portugal, Internal Auditor (IA) is increasing its importance,
and companies are aware that Internal Audit is essential in today's world business because it helps
companies on task simplification and cost reduction [1].
Audit is the systematic process to obtain and evaluating objectively evidences about the
correspondence between information, situations or procedures and established criteria [1] and to
perform this process, the auditor must work in a phased manner [2], thru several activities and
processes in a systematic, thorough and automated way and that’s why auditors look for tools and
computer techniques [3].
The available IT tools that support the Internal Auditor’s (IA) activities are very complex when
compared with Portuguese business’s reality. These IT tools are focused on the Internal Audit’s
process and not on the Auditor’s daily work.
This poster shows the evidences for the opportunity to create a tool to support the IA’s work,
allowing him to plan and execute the audit in a simple mode, based on a particular procedure,
providing in each procedure’s point to know which questions need answer, which data is needed, who
is involved, when is the data/responses needed and what indicators are associated with each step.
According to a study in 2008, Portugal has the highest increase in audit activity [4]. This growth allied
with the dissemination of IT/IS in business demonstrates the usability of implementing an application
in this area. Upon this work’s conclusion it is expected to have developed an application to support the
IA’s activities, which will allow the management of the audit process supported in organization
procedures, with focus on the Portuguese reality of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
References
1. Morais, I. M. G., Auditoria Interna, 3rd ed., 2007.
2. Pinheiro, J. L., Auditoria Interna - Auditoria Operacional - Manual Prático para Auditores Internos, 2010.
3. Coderre, D., Internal Audit: Efficiency though automation, 2009.
4. Carreiro, M., "O Estado da arte da auditoria em Portugal" IPAI, 2008.
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