Pattern-directed auditing of inter-organisational trade procedures

Abstract

In open business-to-business electronic commerce, when trading with parties where no prior trade relationships or trust exist, the parties need to rely on inter-organizational trade procedures that control trading risks. These trade procedures have to be audited to identify potential control weaknesses and the resulting fraud potential, including the risks associated with the communication medium used to support the execution of these procedures. This article is an initial step towards establishing a theory on the auditing of inter-organizational (trade) procedures. A set of generic principles is proposed for inter-organizational trade procedures, which includes the analysis of potential control weaknesses associated with the technical communication infrastructure. We show how this theory can be supported using automated techniques, and illustrate using the example of a documentary credit procedure. © 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.