Gone are the days of lugging heavy three-ring audit binders to client sites, manually gathering workpapers and then heading back to the office to complete audit work with in-house accounting software. Cloud-based audit solutions enable auditors to work together, with the ability to access real-time audit data from anywhere and exchange information with clients through secure, digital channels.
Clients today expect firms to add more value as part of the audit. As automation improved efficiency throughout the audit workflow, auditors gained more time to get to know clients’ needs, deeply understand their businesses and help them analyse areas for potential improvement.
Auditors will continue to face digital disruption as advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning make it possible to shift audits away from sampling data and towards testing 100% of client data. At the same time, clients are looking for trusted advisors that can benchmark the same data to help companies analyse their performance against peers and identify opportunities for the client to grow their business. Firms will use predictive analytics to help clients uncover problems sooner and discover potential areas of competitive advantage.
In this complimentary eBook, we share the key challenges faced by auditors and three ways to avoid trouble in audits by embracing new technologies and processes.
