How technology alone does not guarantee innovation

Technology is transforming the audit, but are we enabling our auditors to think digital?

Nearly every business function today is undergoing digital transformation in one form or another. Auditing is no different. In fact, the digital audit applies advanced analytics, robotics, artificial intelligence — even drones — to the auditing process. Technology is transforming the audit, but there’s another aspect to digital transformation that’s equally important: how we enable our auditors to think digital. 

The promise of the digital audit is to simplify the audit process, reduce the burden on companies and – above all else – execute high-quality audits. To realize that promise takes more than technology; it takes people who have an innovation mindset and the tools to drive change. By engaging our people, providing the right enablement and understanding our clients’ operating environment, we’re able to deliver an audit that is more responsive to this Transformative Age.

Our holistic approach encompasses:

Engaging our people so they think big – and act now. We are constantly looking at how we can innovate, with the ultimate goal of strengthening confidence and trust, and enhance audit quality.  At the start of the audit cycle, we ask each of our teams to focus on what they can do to take an  innovative outlook. That includes taking a fresh look at EY Canvas, our global audit platform, and EY Helix, our suite of data analytics, to consider how these technologies can enhance the audits they work on, not in the next five or ten years, but today.  

Creating digital ownership through better enablement. Technology for technology’s sake does not work — teams need to be confident in their ability to execute. That’s why this past year we  introduced a new service delivery model for the audit in the US, the 10x Accelerator, that connects our teams to audit and data resources that can support every step of the digital audit process — from data acquisition, to running the analyzers, to sharing insights with our clients.

Listening to our clients and improving their audit experience. Real change requires a reason — and a powerful reason for transforming the audit comes from our clients. They are looking for consistently high audit quality and ways to reduce the burden of the audit so their people can focus on other business priorities. An analytics-driven audit program can reduce or eliminate the need for large transaction testing. Using a cloud-based portal for client-auditor communication streamlines the process of collecting and managing client documentation. These types of changes enable our teams to focus on the most important risks, leading to improvements in audit quality and a better process. That adds up to a big difference. 

Technology alone does not guarantee innovation – that takes people. Enabling our auditors to think digital is a critical part of our digital transformation, one that will simplify the audit process, reduce the burden on companies and improve the overall audit experience.