Data-driven, risk and activity-based dynamic audit application and method

A system that implements a data-driven, risk and activity-based dynamic audit application, the system comprising:

• an interface that communicates with one or more users via a communication network;
• an Activity Database that stores and manages one or more Activities wherein each Activity comprises an Input, an Action and an Output;
• a Documentation Database that stores and manages client data, external data and previous output data wherein the Documentation Database and the Activity Database are linked in a manner where the Input of the Activity is based on data from the Documentation Database and the Output of the Activity is used to update the Documentation Database;
• a Risk/Response Library Database that stores and manages standard risks, risk groups, risk responses and control objectives;
• and
• a computer processor coupled to the interface, the Activity Database and the Documentation Database, the Risk/Response Library Database and further configured to perform the steps of:
• performing an initial action that generates a corresponding one or more outputs wherein the initial action is part of an audit engagement;
• based on the corresponding one or more outputs, dynamically generating a set of activity options;
• for each activity option, determining a score that represents a relative ranking against other activity options;
• from the set of activity options and based at least in part on the score, identifying an optimal activity;
• performing a next action that comprises the optimal activity;
• generating a set of procedures specific to the audit engagement;
• and
• identifying one or more relevant risks derived from one or more risk indicators within the Risk/Response Library Database based on the one or more outputs of the initial action and at least one output of the next action.