Use case · Finance & Audit · Audit
Continuous Internal Controls Monitoring
This proposed application uses BrainShift to support continuous internal controls monitoring for audit teams overseeing finance processes. Agents evaluate available evidence against approved control definitions, prepare traceable exception cases, and coordinate investigation without replacing auditor judgment. The high-complexity design requires careful mapping of control logic, system permissions, and approval responsibilities.
This page describes a proposed application of the BrainShift platform. It is not a description of a specific customer deployment.
Business challenge
Internal audit teams often receive transaction extracts, approval logs, and access reviews on different schedules. A payment may appear compliant in an ERP report while supporting approval evidence is missing from the document repository, making timely investigation difficult.
Control owners also describe exceptions inconsistently. Auditors must distinguish genuine failures from approved deviations, incomplete records, and extraction errors before assigning remediation. Periodic sampling can leave gaps between reviews, while indiscriminate alerts can overwhelm limited audit capacity.
How BrainShift solves it
BrainShift Studio can build agents around an approved control library covering areas such as duplicate payments, approval thresholds, segregation of duties, and overdue reconciliations. Explicit rules handle defined tests; agent reasoning helps assemble evidence and explain discrepancies. Each finding identifies its source records, applicable control, and evidence limitations.
Agentic Workflows coordinates collection, testing, investigation, and review. Action Hub can create approved remediation tasks or record authorized updates in connected systems. Auditors retain authority over finding classification, escalation, and closure; the application does not independently block payments, change access rights, or certify control effectiveness.
How it works
Step-by-step workflow
- 01
1. Define the monitoring scope
Audit leads select controls, entities, monitoring cadence, materiality criteria, and evidence requirements. Control owners approve test definitions before activation.
- 02
2. Collect authorized evidence
Agents retrieve scoped transactions, approval histories, and access records. Missing feeds, stale extracts, and incomplete coverage are recorded explicitly.
- 03
3. Run approved control tests
Workflows apply versioned rules and reconcile related records. Suspected deviations remain provisional rather than being treated automatically as confirmed failures.
- 04
4. Assemble exception cases
Agents group related alerts, attach supporting evidence, and explain the suspected breach. Cases include alternative explanations and unanswered investigation questions.
- 05
5. Review and assign remediation
Auditors validate findings and approve escalation. Action Hub then creates authorized follow-up tasks with accountable owners and required evidence.
- 06
6. Retest and review closure
Workflows gather remediation evidence and rerun applicable tests. An authorized reviewer decides whether to close, reopen, or escalate the case.
BrainShift components
What each module does
BrainShift Studio
Build control-testing agents, evidence interpretation logic, and audit-specific case preparation applications.
Agentic Workflows
Orchestrate recurring tests, agent handoffs, exception review, remediation tracking, and closure approvals.
Action Hub
Execute approved task creation and status updates through restricted connections to operational systems.
Enterprise integrations
Systems it can connect to
Configurable integration options, confirmed during implementation.
- SAP: Configurable retrieval of finance transactions and available approval records.
- SQL Server: Configurable access to reconciled audit datasets and control-test inputs.
- SharePoint: Configurable retrieval of control narratives and supporting evidence.
- REST APIs: Connect approved audit case-management and remediation endpoints.
- Identity providers: Support authentication and authorized access-context retrieval.
Data sources
- Approved control library and testing procedures
- Accounts payable, journal, and vendor-master records
- Approval histories and delegated authority matrices
- User-role assignments and access review evidence
- Reconciliations, exception registers, and remediation records
Business outcomes
Potential benefits
Earlier exception visibility
Scheduled checks could surface suspected deviations between formal audit cycles.
More reviewable findings
Linked evidence could reduce time spent reconstructing transaction histories.
Clearer coverage gaps
Explicit feed limitations could prevent incomplete monitoring from appearing comprehensive.
More consistent follow-up
Approved assignments could make remediation ownership and outstanding evidence clearer.
Stronger closure discipline
Retesting could help reviewers distinguish completed tasks from resolved control failures.
Suggested KPIs
Security and deployment
Deployment can be designed for sovereign, on-premises, or private-cloud environments. SSO, role-based access, and scoped service permissions should restrict evidence retrieval and execution. Audit trails should capture source references, test versions, agent outputs, approvals, and connected-system actions, with retention aligned to audit policy.
Human oversight
Audit leadership approves control logic and material changes. Designated reviewers validate findings, authorize high-impact actions, and approve closure. Uncertain evidence is escalated, not silently resolved; control owners cannot substitute task completion for independent audit sign-off.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Which payments may have bypassed approval?
The system compares payment records with approved authority rules and available approval logs, then presents evidence-backed candidates for auditor review.
Show me why this segregation-of-duties alert appeared.
It assembles relevant role assignments, conflicting permissions, and the applicable control rule, highlighting any missing access context.
Create follow-up tasks for these confirmed exceptions.
It prepares owners, due dates, and evidence requests, then uses Action Hub to create tasks after authorized approval.
Does continuous monitoring replace internal audit testing?
No. Coverage depends on connected evidence and approved tests; auditors still assess design effectiveness, investigate exceptions, and form conclusions.
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