The emergence of efficient technology solutions, has provided an opportunity for auditors to rethink the way traditional audits are executed. Big data organizations could in the next 10 years replace the services of traditional data auditors if they do not step up the fight.
The advent of big data offers a transformed audit experience which transcends sample based testing for business risks to investigative analysis of entire populations for any data relevant for an audit.
With technology innovation in data processing, and supercomputers, all data points are subject to scrutiny. This may include far-reaching millions and millions of transaction level activities used to uncover insights that might be difficult to uncover using traditional approaches.
Big data provides the correct tools and skills to conduct new generation audits. The use of machine learning also gives it an upper hand to detect fraud and other hidden business risks caused by the “little dirty secrets of data”.
While this is an emerging opportunity, it is necessary for data analytics practitioners to collaborate with incumbent auditors in a relationship which could offer investigative data skills data to the latter, while at the same time transitioning standard auditing practices to the big data experts.
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