11 hrs ago
Audit Firms Adapt to Digital Businesses and Data Deluge
Many businesses now use computers and digital systems to run their operations.
This makes auditing their finances more complicated.
Auditors cannot only check the final numbers in a ledger.
They must also understand how the numbers were created.
This includes examining computer systems, data flows and who can access information.
They also need to consider cybersecurity and other technology controls.
Different specialists may work together on one audit.
The goal is to make sure the business’s numbers can be trusted.
Audit firms are changing their methods as businesses become digital, global and more complex.
Auditors must show clients they can examine increasingly technology-driven operations.
Modern audit trails begin before figures enter the accounting ledger.
Confidence in financial numbers depends on the systems, access rights and data behind them.
Audits increasingly require cooperation among financial, IT, data, cybersecurity and other specialist teams.
- Who
- Audit firms, auditors and their specialist teams, including financial, IT, data and cybersecurity experts.
- What
- Audit firms are adapting their methods to examine digital, global and more complex businesses.
- Where
- When
- Why
- Businesses increasingly rely on digital systems, complex data flows and technology-driven processes, requiring auditors to assess more than financial transactions alone.
Key facts
- Main challenge
- Auditing businesses that have become digital, global and more complex.
- Audit trail
- The article says it begins before the first number reaches the ledger.
- Trust factors
- Systems, access rights and data that create financial numbers.
- Required expertise
- Financial audit, IT, data, cybersecurity and other specialist knowledge.
- Industry response
- Audit firms are reworking their approach to meet changing client needs.
- Quoted expert
- Abhishek Rara, partner at Price Waterhouse LLP.
Quotes
Abhishek Rara
Partner at Price Waterhouse LLP
“The auditor must understand not only the financial transaction, but also the technology, data flows and control environment behind it. That calls for an integrated approach across financial audit, IT, data, cybersecurity and other specialist teams”
livemint.com
“In a digital business, the audit trail begins before the first number reaches the ledger. Trust in the numbers now depends on trust in the systems, access rights and data that create them.”
livemint.com
Sources
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