A 90-Day Continuous Auditing Pilot for Accounts Payable
A focused path from periodic sampling to exception monitoring
The objective
Accounts payable is a practical starting point for continuous auditing because transactions are structured, recurring, and exposed to duplicate payments, vendor master changes, and unauthorized disbursements.
Days 1–30: establish the baseline
Map source systems, vendor master data, invoice and payment files, approval limits, and known control failures. Define ownership and a small set of tests: duplicate invoice numbers, similar invoice amounts, employee–vendor address overlaps, split transactions, and bank-account changes.
Days 31–60: test and tune
Run tests on historical and current data. Investigate sample alerts, distinguish legitimate exceptions from suspicious activity, document false positives, and adjust thresholds. Determine which alerts merit review before payment rather than after disbursement.
Days 61–90: operationalize
Implement a repeatable exception queue with accountable reviewers, evidence retention, escalation criteria, and Audit Committee reporting. Where feasible, evaluate preventive holds only after controls and authorization are validated.
Report results responsibly
Measure coverage, alert volume, validated exceptions, time to disposition, recoveries, and prevented losses where supportable. Avoid presenting flagged amounts as proven fraud or savings.
Engagement perspective
INTELL RISK & ADVISORY GROUP brings evidence-based analysis to fraud, forensic accounting, investigations, litigation support, internal audit, and complex accounting matters. For a confidential initial discussion, please use the contact section on our homepage. Do not send privileged or sensitive documents through unverified channels.