Are the supreme public auditors ready for forensic auditing?

When the supreme audit institutions published their INTOSAI strategy plan, one could notice that they focused on fighting against corruption and other organisational pathologies. To efficiently combat such deadly social diseases, public auditors need to use efficient audit methodologies and tools.
The study aimed to establish the possibility of using weak signals during forensic auditing. The insights in this paper have emerged iteratively through consideration of both theory and the empirical case based on public auditors' database analysis.  A detailed analysis revealed that there is a need to use weak signals in forensic auditing practices. Besides, it was found that forensic auditing is not developed by supreme audit institutions, which are the most crucial auditor in the public sector. Such a situation questions the effectiveness of these organisations in the fight against irregularities in the public sector. The article brings several valuable information that can be the base material and reference to further research. It provides practical tips on how to plan and carry out forensic auditing using weak signals. Besides, the article presents the original definition of forensic auditing. 

See: Dobrowolski, Z. 2020. Forensic Auditing and Weak Signals: A Cognitive Approach and Practical Tips. European Research Studies Journal, Volume XXIII, Special Issue 2, 247-259. https://doi.org/10.35808/ersj/1821.

Open access license of the publication was funded by the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.