The impact of audit automation on the information technology (IT) audit profession (A case of a South African audit firm)

Abstract

Organisations are moving towards the automation of business processes to meet the demands of stakeholders. To meet the frequency and expectations of businesses, IT audits should be automated to ensure that organisation’s auditing/accounting practices, risk controls, compliance and information systems, and business controls are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Additionally, the IT profession is evolving as a result of the audit automation. This qualitative case study explores the impact of audit automation on the IT audit profession, focusing on how automation influences their day-today responsibilities and competencies. The study follows an interpretivism paradigm where semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 IT auditors from a South African audit firm. The interview questions were derived from a model built from the systematic literature review conducted for the study and the affordance theory adopted for the use of Information Systems research. The data was analysed using thematic coding, which identified key themes such as data as an enabler, continuous auditing and continuous monitoring, audit automation and the role of the IT auditor. Findings indicate that although the IT audit role is evolving, it will not be fully replaced by automation anytime soon, IT auditors will work together with audit automation tools to act as information certifiers of the results from the audit automation tools. Their key role will be to apply their professional judgement and professional scepticism which audit automations tools currently lack. The study concludes that IT auditors and audit firms should invest in training and upskilling to ensure that they have the relevant skills to work together with audit automation tools. This study contributes to the understanding of how IT auditors perceive and adapt to automation and the evolving responsibilities, offering insights to practitioners and audit firms on how they can upskill and provide the relevant training to IT auditors. Future research should focus on the role of artificial intelligence on the automation of the audit profession and the capabilities and impacts that AI has on the audit profession.