THE AUDITOR'S RESPONSIBILITIES IN EVALUATING INTERNAL CONTROLS AND THE RESULTS OF PROCESSING ACCOUNTING DATA ARE (1) UNDERSTANDING THE SYSTEM, (2) VERIFYING TWO PHASES OF PROCESSING (GENERAL CONTROLS AND APPLICATION CONTROLS), AND (3) VERIFYING RESULTS OF PROCESSING. COMPUTERS CAUSE AUDITORS UNIQUE PROBLEMS IN FULFILLING THESE RESPONSIBILITIES. MUSHROOMING COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY OVERWHELMS AUDITORS WITH NEW LITERATURE AND CHANGES. VERIFYING PROCESSING IS IMPORTANT, SINCE THE RELIABILITY OF ACCOUNTING DATA IS A FUNCTION OF THE SYSTEM THAT PRODUCES IT. WHEN USING 'AUDITING AROUND THE COMPUTER,' A TRADITIONAL VERIFYING TECHNIQUE, THE AUDITOR SELECTS SOURCE DOCUMENTS, TRACES ASSOCIATED ENTRIES THROUGH COMPUTER PRINTOUTS, AND EXAMINES RESULTANT ENTRIES IN SUMMARY ACCOUNTS. HOWEVER, THIS TECHNIQUE VERIFIES ONLY DATA ACTUALLY CHECKED, OFTEN ONLY A TINY FRACTION OF THE SYSTEM'S OUTPUT. 'AUDITING THROUGH THE COMPUTER' IS A FAMILY OF TECHNIQUES THAT LOOKS MORE CLOSELY AT THE PROCESSING SYSTEM. WHILE 'AUDITING AROUND THE COMPUTER' FOCUSES ON RECORDS, 'AUDITING THROUGH' ASSUMES THAT THE RECORDS WILL BE ACCURATE IF THE PROCESSING IS RELIABLE. THUS, THE AUDITOR VERIFIES PROCESSING THE CLIENT'S PROGRAM BY PROCESSING A SIMILAR OR IDENTICAL PROGRAM. SEVERAL 'AUDITING THROUGH' TECHNIQUES ARE DISCUSSED, AS ARE DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS THAT HELP THE AUDITOR IMPLEMENT THEM. TO IMPROVE DATA PROCESSING AUDITING, NEW, SELF-IMPROVING TECHNIQUES ARE NEEDED. THESE MAY BE OBTAINED BY STANDARIZING SOFTWARE AND PERMITTING AUDITORS A PART IN DESIGNING IT. CHARTS, TABULAR DATA, AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (PAP)