Developing an online collaborative system within the domain of financial auditing
Author:Pavel Năstase and Lucian Cristian Eni
JEL:M42, C81, C82, C88, D85
DOI:
Keywords:online collaborative system, online database, Microsoft SharePoint, audit firms,
financial auditors, oversight body
Abstract:
The research paper, focused on a rather technical approach, has the goal to design a system
that brings together diverse audit stakeholders and investigates how an audit database
available online can be implemented in SharePoint, as part of an on-line audit system which
is collaborative and national. The online audit database covers various information needs
for both financial auditors and the employees of the Chamber of Financial Auditors of
Romania. For rapid deployment, we used various tools: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2,
SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010 and various implementation features:
external content types, external lists, business data web parts etc. In this paper, we use two
research methods: the first one is empiric, based on formulating a questionnaire and the
interpretation of the results, while the second is the analysis of the implementation process
by using a step-by-step approach. The online audit database stores information about the
results of previous audits, the opinions issued as result of audits, the results of online
electronic inspections, audit firms, audited entities, risks identified etc. The conclusion was
that the online database, which is updated through Internet, is feasible to implement in
SharePoint, for multiple audit stakeholders including financial auditors who can sell their
financial audit services benefiting from the transparency that the system provides.