Continuous auditing: A literature review

摘要

Recent fraud scandals involving highly known corporations like Enron, WorldCom, and Xerox have eroded public confidence in financial reporting. At the same time, the auditing profession has suffered a big hit. In this scenario, Continuous Auditing (CA) seems to have emerged as a response to recover the credibility of the auditing profession as well as meeting Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) requirements. This study, that adopts an exploratory approach, analyzes the existing literature on this topic. First, we address the concepts, models and implications of CA. After, throughout a search on the journals indexed at the CAPES's Basis, a literature review is conducted. A total of 57 articles were selected. We analyze authorship, affiliation, publications, year and type of research of papers that have addressed CA. Findings evidence that most articles addressing CA are non-empirical and adopt a conceptual approach. Also, there is an increasing tendency of continuous auditing studies. Rutgers University seems to be the World's leading research center on CA. This study aims to contribute to the Accounting Science by evidencing possibilities for research and publication in CA.