UNCERTAIN SYSTEMS: MODELS, METHODS AND APPLICATIONS – PART 1 Influence factors analysis of online auditing performance assessment A combined use between AHP and GIA Wei Chen Department of Information Management, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing, China Sifeng Liu College of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China, and Wally J. Smieliauskas and Gerhard Trippen Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada Abstract Purpose – Consistent with the requirements of online auditing performance assessments, the purpose of this paper is to propose an influence factors analysis method using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and grey incidence analysis (GIA) to analyze the importance degree of influence factors on online auditing performance quantitatively. Design/methodology/approach – A grey incidence model is developed to analyze the influence factors of online auditing performance based on the characteristics of online auditing. Then, the AHP is used to compute the weights of each assessment criterion of online auditing, and the performance of online auditing are computed. Finally, representing the performance assessment results computed by AHP and values of each assessment criterion as two sequences, GIA is used to analyze the importance degree of influence factors of online auditing performance quantitatively. Findings – The main, secondary and minor influence factors of performance assessment of the online auditing project are identified. For online auditing projects, costs incurred are not the main influence factors of performance. Online auditing projects with higher benefits, higher quality and better design are the really effective ones. Besides, there is no direct relationship between the value of the weight of each criterion and the value of the degree of grey incidence. Practical implications – The results of this study provide useful decision information to implement online auditing projects. Originality/value – An effective method for analyzing the importance degree of influence factors of online auditing performance quantitatively is provided in this study. Keywords Systems theory, Continuous auditing, Online auditing, Performance assessment, GIA, Auditing, Analytical hierarchy process Paper type Research paper The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0368-492X.htm Auditing performance assessment 587 Kybernetes Vol. 41 No. 5/6, 2012 pp. 587-598 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0368-492X DOI 10.1108/03684921211243257