The auditor profession has a critical mission today, worldwide. They are responsible for screening business accounts and helping to prevent fraud to protect investor interests. In a way, they’re our modern day white-collar superheroes, fighting financial injustices for a more stable (and financially accurate) world.
As the auditing world grows increasingly complex - and more importantly, increasingly automated - the auditing profession becomes a complicated choice, requiring very long hours of work and dedication. Based on recent surveys, many auditors see significant roadblocks to their vision of future career stability and relevancy.
The audit profession environment is getting increasingly complicated and requiring a broad and significant knowledge of IT. Cybersecurity threats continue to rear their ugly heads - one only needs to look at the Equifax breach to see how serious these can be.
Growing regulatory concerns provide neither help nor stability for the ever-evolving auditing industry. This year, it’s worth pausing and taking a breath to examine what auditors face and how auditors need to adapt to keep their relevancy and future intact.
The Rocky Road Ahead
There’s no doubt that this past year has been a big one for auditors. October alone was full of concerning developments.
From one of the Big 4 accounting firms hit with a £2.75m fine (for mistakes made years ago) to the growing confusing SAA scandal, auditors are left wondering if these are isolated incidents - or warning signs of change.
At the same time, there is an increasing debate about automation across all industries. Could robots, that are unlikely to make the same mistakes as humans, actually be adopted by the auditing industry? How will automation impact auditors today?
Deep learning, artificial intelligence, and big data’s convergence with the complex world of auditory regulations spell a radical shift in the way auditors work.
The real question auditors face is not whether these technologies are coming, but how the profession should adapt in the face of them.
Future (and Exciting) Reform
Despite extensive regulation and intense scrutiny of the auditing process, the auditing process by design does not give absolute assurance. However, there are exciting changes on the horizon.
Currently, the accuracy of financial statements, and, subsequently the audit, is dependent on assumptions. Auditors rely on a corporation having reliable and complete internal financial reporting controls, something management must represent - not prove.
That, of course, does not mean that auditors solely rely on management representations, they do their own independent testing and assessments. Assumptions and judgments are one of the sources of deficiencies in the accounting process.
Due to the existence of the human factor and current process inadequacies, both the accounting process and audit is heading in the direction of automation and, more fundamentally, towards the use of blockchain technology.
The nature and design of the blockchain technology has elements that are expected to bring an entirely new approach to both the accounting and audit process. All the stakeholders who have an interest in company’s financial statements would benefit from the power of a blockchain ecosystem to present real-time financial reporting with unprecedented ease and efficiency.
What This Means for Auditors
The auditing landscape is changing - but for the better, not worse. The audit profession requires practitioners to be aware about changes in business environment. It also needs to learn to adapt in the face of a currently changing job description.
By being forward-thinking and becoming involved in audit technology advancements, auditors can position themselves for an exciting transition. In essence, the blockchain will remove the grunt work out of auditing historical data, which is not necessarily always of interest to both the management and shareholders. It gives auditors the platform and tools they need to provide insight to businesses like never before, while removing much of the discomfort of auditing work today.
Neither auditing nor auditors are going away anytime soon. How the nature of the audit profession works, however, will be radically shifting.
For auditors to keep their relevancy, they need to adapt to cutting-edge auditing approaches.
Are you adapting?
Stay ahead of the coming blockchain revolution. Auditchain is working with exciting blockchain-based technology to provide auditors with next-generation tools.
Visit our website Auditchain.com to gain more insight on how you can stay relevant in the auditing field. Never stop learning - never stop evolving.