Virtuelles Risiko oder Segen? : Cloud Computing in der Wirtschaftsprüfung
Das Aufkommen des Cloud Computing hat gewaltige Auswirkungen auf die IT-Industrie. Unternehmen wie Google, Amazon und Microsoft, bieten immer leistungsfähigere, zuverlässigere und kostengünstigere Cloud Plattformen an.
Unternehmen mit Rechenbedarf hinterfragen zunehmend den Nutzen ihrer eigenen IT-Infrastruktur und prüfen, inwieweit sie durch Nutzung von Cloud Computing Fixkosten abbauen und bedarfsgerecht gegen variable Kosten austauschen können.
To date, Cloud Computing has primarily
been subject to research in the
area field of Computer Science. We
describe the managerial challenges
with an emphasis focus on cost
accounting, capital budgeting, and auditing when outsourcing internal
functions to the cloud. In a cloud
environment, activities of the real
organization and the virtual organisationorganization
are interrelated
and not directly observable. Further,
the interrelationship between real
and virtual components changes
quickly. Both, management and
auditors are challenged by an
increasing complexity and lack in of
transparency of in processes outsourced
to the cloud. Complexity
and non-transparency cause risks in
regard to security and compliance
requirements. We propose to use
Process Mining to handle complexity
and non-transparency for to mitigateing
the risks. Process Mining facilitates
an enhanced understanding of
processes through visualization and
detailed analysis. Process Mining can
be used by auditors to assess the
operating effectiveness of internal
controls. However, additional event
data are necessary in order to apply
Process Mining in the general form
of Event Mining for auditing cloud
computing systems, additional event
data are necessary.