Using Belief Functions in Software Agents to Test the Strength of Application Controls: A Conceptual Framework

Belief functions have been used to model audit decision making for over 20 years. More recently they have been used in assessing the strength of internal controls and information systems security. There has been some research on software agents in auditing, particularly in the web search bot area Nelson et al. (2000). This research used their results to develop an agent model to provide CPA services which add value to client automated systems. It extends the work of Srivastava and others (Bovee et al., 2007; Srivastava & Shafer, 1992; Srivastava, 1997) in belief functions and Nehmer (2003, 2009) in the use of software agents in internal control evaluations. It looks at the problem of monitoring and assuring the adequacy of application internal controls in highly automated transaction processing environments.