ABSTRACT
Over the past several decades, information and communication technologies (ICT) have dramatically increased the speed of business. For example, the rise of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, proprietary corporate networks, digital supply chains, and the internet have contributed immensely to the compression of business cycle times, such as the sales-to-collection and purchase-to-pay cycles. The proliferation and sophistication of ICT provides companies with the ability to efficiently synchronize business processes, rapidly analyze performance metrics, and quickly adapt to changing global conditions. While such changes are undoubtedly good for commerce, auditors need to be cognizant of associated internal control risks.
