Ever since Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act took real effect in 2004, audit experts and software vendors have touted the benefits of continuous monitoring and continuous auditing. Yet years later, those concepts still haven’t gone mainstream with Corporate America. What happened?
The idea of continuous monitoring and auditing is seductive, certainly: If you monitor and test your key controls over financial reporting nonstop, mistakes can be caught early and corrected before they lead to material errors in financial statements; accomplish that, and compliance with Section 404 should be a breeze.
