The establishing of regional political federations, e.g. the European Union Promulgation and adoption of international codes and standards such as those issued by the international standards organization, e.g. iso 9000 series Removal of protectionist trade barriers through agreements such as the gatt Explosion of telecommunications, e.g. Internet services Globalisation should be welcomed as it facilitates the speedy dissemination of knowledge, information and new technologies. On the other hand businesses that do not re-tool themselves quickly to cope with increased competitiveness arising from globalisation will not survive in the next century. The Internal Auditor must see himself as a catalyst for change and should promote the re-tooling of his company's processes. The Internal Auditor should also encourage and facilitate the adoption of international standards. Emerging Technologies Expect to see once purely manual processes and procedures being executed by computers particularly through the use of articial intelligence.
Articial intelligence involves the use of computerized systems that behave like human beings.
Some articial intelligence systems may perform audit functions. Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania uses a neural network to help detect credit card fraud. A neural network is an articial intelligence system that attempts to emulate the processing patterns of the brain. Emerging technologies will only provide opportunities for internal auditors but also for fraudsters. Desktop publishing and imaging technology are relatively inexpensive and have been used by persons to generate fraudulent cheques, which are not as easily detected as convential forgeries.