audit firms nervous about new tech

bar chart

a “speed revolution” is on the way. are you ready?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

“progressive technology” is about to boom.

more: what accountants can learn from t-ball | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | whole person retention: when it’s not just the money | seven enticements to keep talent on board | disruptors: talent crisis? what talent crisis? | seven steps to a stronger future | auditing standards ‘yellow book’ updated | compensation’s up, but up enough to retain staff? | cpas needed to help small biz adopt ai | survey shows that tech remains the great divide | will unclogging the accounting pro pipeline kill mobility?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

but are audit firms on the cusp of the boom-to-be? apparently not. a thomson reuters survey of audit firms finds that there’s still a big gap between ambition and execution. only 14 percent of auditors in the u.s. can brag that a “digital transformation” is well under way at their firms, though another 35 percent say they are starting to implement progressive tech.

another third are just thinking about it, and another 8 percent haven’t even done that.

and a good 10 percent have decided to avoid the hassles and the benefits of progressive tech – at least for now.

progressive tech includes such tools as ai, genai, chat gpt and other advanced automation. the survey gathered data from the u.s., uk and canada. the u.s. led in implementation, at 49 percent, while only a third in the uk and canada had moved beyond mere consideration of the possibility.

bar chart

mostly for the fieldwork

the most common operational improvement that firms hope to effect with tech is in actual audit procedures and fieldwork, specified by 56 percent of u.s. firms. thirty-seven percent see potentials in planning, from identifying risks to designing requisite audit programs.

slightly fewer – 30 percent – intend to apply progressive tech to pre-engagement data collection and the preparation of final reports and statements.

a speed revolution

among all respondents, 47 percent see the strongest potential impact in execution and fieldwork, with 80 percent believing that ai systems will increase the speed and ease of data processing, data management and data extraction.

the report calls it a “speed revolution.”

bar chart

auditors in the three nations have different focuses on ai utilization. in the uk, 46 percent are applying the new technologies to the identification of anomalies and irregularities, compared with 38 percent of u.s. firms and just 23 percent of canadians.

canadians are more likely to apply high-tech tools to risk assessment and fraud detection.

obstacles

the reluctance to adopt next-gen tech among many firms may be explained by various obstacles identified in the report.

  • time: staff don’t have time to assess prospective resources. leaders don’t have time to determine which platforms best fit their firm’s priorities.
  • cost: with a quarter of all respondents – and a third of u.s. respondents – reporting fee pressures caused by competition, revenue limits are causing limits on tech budgets. consequently, many firms are putting off big tech investment.
  • staffing: almost half of respondents say their firms are looking for talent with technical audit and regulatory compliance knowledge, with far more canadians searching (63 percent) than americans (40 percent). consequently, only 20-25 percent figure on handling all tech implementation internally, though 55 percent of u.s. firms don’t intend to rely solely on vendors.

the survey concluded saying, “many audit professionals can clearly see how ai could improve their auditing processes, from the client onboarding stage to finalization and wrap-up. the most pressing question for firms is rather: how do we get there from here?”