Next-Generation Audits: What’s In It for You?

Like most businesses, we’re constantly seeking to improve our services. The biggest change we’re anticipating and planning for is automation of audit and internal audit services. There is a lot of discussion about how this development will impact the profession. But we’ve noticed that very little has been written about the impact of these changes to our clients. As we develop and deploy new technology for our audit projects, how will our services and delivery to you change?

1. More focus on you. Automated processes will handle many of the more routine and time-consuming tasks. The change will allow our team to focus more closely on higher risk areas. We’ll be able to spend less time on gathering and aggregating data and more time analyzing the information and delivering the genuine market insights and business advice that you expect from us.

2. More timely audits. Audit automation could result in testing of 100 percent of a population of transactions in real-time throughout the year. As audits are performed and exceptions are identified, we can bring them to your attention and resolve the issue much earlier, rather than asking you after the end of your year why one purchase order was handled differently 11 months ago. While we will still spend time on-site with you, the days of occupying your conference rooms for extended periods testing samples of various journal entries may be numbered.

3. Better value. Once it’s fully online, the automated audit process will allow us to perform audits remotely anywhere in the world. The expanded marketplace for auditors will drive HORNE and others in our profession to deliver more value than we could when so much of our audit energy was spent on sampling and testing of routine transactions.

The new approach will also give us a better chance to identify redundancies in controls and processes. We’ll be able to deliver more than just an opinion on your financial statements. The automated audit process should help us to deliver recommendations that help you to increase operational efficiency in your business.

We’re looking forward to leading in the evolution of the audit process and we believe you should as well. The level of service and support that you receive from our engagement teams will continue to increase as these changes are implemented. If you are interested in learning more about how automation may impact your engagement, please contact your HORNE engagement team today.

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