Assurance in the Digital Age

03 November 2022
Auditing and Assurance
South African Accounting Academy

The fourth industrial revolution is reshaping the world we live and work in. This revolution presents significant opportunities for audit and assurance. The ever-growing availability of data combined with emerging technologies offer new ways for assurance professionals to enhance trust and confidence in their work.

For the audit and broader assurance profession, the emergence of new digital tools represents a real opportunity to attract a new generation of professionals to this noble profession.

Based on the research undertaken, the IAASB identified 4 common themes about how technology is, and will continue to, disrupt the audit and assurance profession:

Audits and assurance procedures performed on a more continuous and real time basis.
An audit or assurance engagement that is increasingly analytics based, including making use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in performing analytics.
An audit and assurance engagement that is increasingly performed remotely.
Audit and assurance becoming a more technology-enabled profession, where more professionals can understand, use, and leverage advancements in technology in their day-to-day work.

This presentation discussed how the ever-evolving and advancing technological landscape is affecting auditors – and how the IAASB is exploring how to effectively respond.

The IAASB's suite of quality management standards and how firms can implement the standards, which come into effect on 15 December 2022 was also discussed.

Many of the themes and issues discussed here are also explored in a related article written by Danielle Davies and the IAASB chair Tom Seidenstein. Read it here: https://www.iaasb.org/news-events/2022-07/assurance-digital-age

More information on the quality management standards and the IAASB’s implementation resources are available on the IAASB website here: https://www.iaasb.org/focus-areas/quality-management

Relevance to Auditors, Independent Reviewers & Accountants:

Auditors, Independent Reviewers and Accountants should be aware of the latest publications and guidance issued by regulators and standard-setting boards, such as the IAASB.
The ever-growing availability of data combined with emerging technologies offer new ways for assurance professionals to enhance trust and confidence in their work.
For the audit and broader assurance profession, the emergence of new digital tools represents a real opportunity to attract a new generation of professionals to this noble profession.

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