The Future Of Auditing

The Future of Auditing provides a concise overview of the function of auditing and the future challenges it faces, underpinned with suggestions for future research. It evaluates the key challenges facing the profession, such as quality, competition, and governance, as well as highlighting the under-explored areas of ethics, fraud, and judgement. The emphasis throughout is on the value of audit, and the importance of auditing research. Providing an original assessment of global versus national auditing, evidence-based auditing standards, and the structure of professional firms, David Hay critically examines the value of auditing from different standpoints. He critically reviews current assumptions about the value of audits of financial statements, and explores research opportunities and priorities to improve understanding of the value of auditing and its future role and function. This authoritative but accessible guide to the future of auditing and the challenges it faces will be useful not only to auditing researchers, but also to policy makers, standard setters, financial journalists, and auditing professionals seeking an accessible overview of current and future issues in auditing.

Due to the emergence of innovative technologies, various professional fields are transforming their traditional business practices. Specifically, the financial and legal markets are experiencing this digital transformation as professionals and researchers are finding ways to improve efficiency, personalization, and security in these economic sectors. Significant research is needed to keep pace with the continuous advancements that are taking place in finance. Fostering Innovation and Competitiveness with FinTech, RegTech, and SupTech provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of technologically innovative mechanisms and applications within the financial, economic, and legal markets. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as crowdfunding platforms, crypto-assets, and blockchain technology, this book is ideally designed for researchers, economists, practitioners, policymakers, analysts, managers, executives, educators, and students seeking current research on the strategic role of technology in the future development of financial and economic activity.

Focussing on the dominance of the Big Four auditing firms, this concise volume provides an authoritative critical assessment of the audit market. Drawing on extensive evidence from insiders, experts, and users, it explores the key issues of audit quality, independence, choice, and the growing expectation gap.

At a time when increased independence requirements for auditors, legal backing for auditing standards, and increased audit documentation requirements have occurred, this book examines key issues in the market for audit services in Australia. It investigates issues including: the understandability of audit and the state of the audit expectations gap; auditors' business acumen and industry expertise; the auditors' use of materiality; whether or not the increasingly prescriptive nature of auditing is creating a distraction from the 'real' audit task and stifling auditors' judgement; whether or not CLERP 9 reforms involving audit partner rotation and restrictions on non-audit service provision are efficient and effective and reactions to the increasing scrutiny of auditors and audit firms by regulators. With its thorough coverage of contemporary issues, this book intersperses the authors' summaries, interpretations and recommendations with the perceptions, expressed in their own words in order to faithfully convey their candid assessments, of users of audit reports, purchasers and suppliers of the audit product, auditing standard setters and regulators of the audit market.

An overview of how auditors will have to change to keep up with new technologies.

Continuous Auditing provides academics and practitioners with a compilation of select continuous auditing design science research, and it provides readers with an understanding of the underlying theoretical concepts of a continuous audit, ideas on how continuous audit can be applied in practice, and what has and has not worked in research.

This book examines current topics and trends in strategic auditing, accounting and finance in digital transformation both from a theoretical and practical perspective. It covers areas such as internal control, corporate governance, enterprise risk management, sustainability and competition. The contributors of this volume emphasize how strategic approaches in this area help companies in achieving targets. The contributions illustrate how by providing good governance, reliable financial reporting, and accountability, businesses can win a competitive advantage. It further discusses how new technological developments like artificial intelligence (AI), cybersystems, network technologies, financial mobility and smart applications, will shape the future of accounting and auditing for firms.​

Audits provide essential accountability and transparency over government programs. Given the current challenges facing governments and their programs, the oversight provided through auditing is more critical than ever. Government auditing provides the objective analysis and information needed to make the decisions necessary to help create a better future. The professional standards presented in this 2018 revision of Government Auditing Standards (known as the Yellow Book) provide a framework for performing high-quality audit work with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence to provide accountability and to help improve government operations and services. These standards, commonly referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS), provide the foundation for government auditors to lead by example in the areas of independence, transparency, accountability, and quality through the audit process. This revision contains major changes from, and supersedes, the 2011 revision.

Focussing on the dominance of the Big Four auditing firms – PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG – this concise volume provides an authoritative critical assessment of the state and future of the audit market, currently the subject of much debate and the focus of significant government enquiries. Drawing on extensive research and a vast collection of evidence from interviews with insiders, experts and users, it explores the key issues of audit quality, independence, choice and the growing expectation gap. Just as disruptive technologies are overturning other established sectors, this book explores their impact on accounting, financial reporting and auditing. It questions whether the Big Four-dominated audit market is prepared not only for the inevitable disruption of new technologies, but also the challenges of negative public perceptions, cynicism about regulation and demands for greater transparency. In the context of increasing high-profile corporate failures, this book provides a compelling scrutiny of the industry’s failings and present difficulties, and the impact of future disruption. At this crucial time, it will be of great interest to students, researchers and professionals in accounting and auditing, as well as policy makers and regulators.