The data-driven audit: Technology and the future of auditing
Cathy Rowe, Senior Vice President and Segment Leader, U.S. Professional Market, Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting North America, discusses how data-driven insights combined with analysis and guidance can make audits more thorough and help firms make better decisions.
Q With the recent emphasis on data and technology, what does the future of auditing look like?
A The accounting profession is on the brink of a major shift thanks to artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, blockchain, and cloud adoption. With these technologies, auditors now have the ability to combine data-driven insights with real-time analysis and expert guidance, making audits more thorough and helping firms make better decisions.
At Wolters Kluwer, we see the biggest opportunity for the firms that choose to take a platform approach to leveraging these powerful new tools. With cloud platforms like CCH Axcess™ Audit, firms are enabling seamless collaboration and data sharing across both applications and teams. Once data is entered, it flows across all necessary applications in ways that pointbased solutions can’t replicate, improving data flow and overall firm intelligence.
AI and machine learning are already changing how audit teams function, but companies like Wolters Kluwer are leading the industry into the future by emphasizing how these tools work together. We find the greatest improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and insights when applications connect seamlessly across your entire firm.
Q What’s your advice to firms that are excited about implementing a datadriven approach?
A Don’t implement data analytics for the sake of analytics. With our customers, we emphasize the importance of a balanced and flexible approach over a complete overhaul. Rather than revolutionizing their audit practice, we recommend firms focus on practical and pragmatic transformation. What are their goals for this new analytics program? What data do they have currently? How will they get any new data needed to achieve their goals? By taking an iterative approach, firms can use data in their audits based on their comfort level (and what their clients are able to provide!) rather than finding themselves swimming in unusable data.
Q How can firms balance the use of technology with the auditor’s professional judgment and expertise?
A Never forget that technology is a tool that complements the auditor’s expertise rather than competing with it. While technology can automate tasks and analyze data, only auditors can provide the critical oversight needed to ensure the accuracy and relevance of automated processes. Only an auditor can identify when technology might be missing context or misinterpreting data. And even when technology is working seamlessly, only an auditor can use that data to make informed decisions.
Taking a balanced approach that combines technology with human expertise allows the audit process to benefit from the best of both, integrating data and decision-making to provide a comprehensive audit that is thorough, accurate, and insightful.
