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The development of intelligent decision support systems in auditing has been the focus of much research in auditing. The research in this dissertation constructs a domain of transaction processing. It is hypothesized that such a constructed domain forms one of the mental models that auditors must possess if they are to perform complex auditing tasks.
The research models the domain of transaction processing as a communication structure where the processing of transactions is performed by an execution and a recording subsystem. Each subsystem is defined as consisting of an initiation and completion function with the auditor's control concerns being expressed over these functions and across subsystems.
The model is used to generate auditor-like queries about an organization's control of its transaction processing from a representation of its transaction processing system. The model enables a computer program to simulate the process of an auditor examining the representation and generating queries about transaction processing controls. In a very restricted setting the program mechanically generates queries about the control of a sales transaction processing system.