No business is complete without an audit. It’s a necessary evil that helps to ensure compliance with regulations and maintain accurate financial records. But the audit process can be time-consuming and expensive. That’s where automation comes in. Automation audit is a new way to streamline your audit process, saving you time and money.
What Is Automation Auditing
Automation auditing is a modern way of assembling audit data, and it’s done by computerized systems. Embedded into your financial system (for example, banks and credit card companies), automated audit software can run scheduled audits of your system on pre-defined schedules. If there are discrepancies, these systems will immediately send you an alert.
According to a Deloitte report, the most popular area of RPA deployment (54%) is accounting and finance, followed by operational processes (25%), human resources (8%), IT (6%), tax (5%), and internal audit (2%).
Automated audit software can compare large amounts of data in a short period of time. It can also flag inconsistencies within your records, and identify financial trends and other potential problems. By automating the process, automation auditing frees up auditors to do more in-depth analysis and work on more complex cases.
What Is The Best Way To Automate Your Audit Process
The best way to automate your audit process is by using a software package that’s designed for the task. Companies that have invested heavily in automated audit software will be much more efficient at detecting fraud. When you use the right tools, you’ll be able to do it faster, more effectively and more efficiently.
A fundamental core of automatable operations has formed, based on the reengineering of a highly flexible set of audit procedures that businesses perform client to client and partner to partner.
How To Get Started With Automation Auditing
The best way to get started with automation auditing is by talking with an expert. Automation auditing is a complex process that requires a lot of specialized software. A consultant can help you sort through the options, select the right software and get you up and running.
A qualified consultant will also be able to help you select pricing packages that give you the most value for your money. They’ll walk you through the setup process, so your system is operating optimally from day one. And they’ll be there to troubleshoot any problems as they arise, helping ensure your audit system runs smoothly for years to come.
How To Automate Your Audit Process
Most companies use a software package that provides automated audit functionality. If you don’t want to go with a packaged solution, you can always use a custom-built system. But, there’s no need to build your own if you don’t know what you’re doing. A consultant will create the ideal solution for your company, based on your desired features and performance specifications.
Robotic process automation methods, which are developing in the profession and have been more widely applied in the corporate sector, may execute a variety of audit-related duties.
Automation Auditing Specialists are experts in this industry and can help streamline and optimize the audit process from initial planning to implementation of automated systems. For more information about Automation Auditing, click here.
Benefits Of Automation Auditing
As the world increasingly moves towards audit automation, it’s important for businesses to audit their robotic process automation (RPA) to ensure that it is up to snuff. This includes auditing the automation itself as well as the audit procedures and processes surrounding it. By doing so, businesses can ensure that their RPA is effective and efficient.
As organizations increasingly rely on data analytics in their risk assessment processes, it is important for auditors to have a clear understanding of the data analytics tools and techniques being used, as well as the associated risks.
The use of data analytics can help improve internal audit quality by providing more reliable and timely information. However, data analytics also introduces new risks that need to be considered in the audit planning process. In order to ensure audit data standards are met, auditors should consider using data analytics tools and techniques.
With practise guides, templated audit plans, and ever-evolving supported technologies, today’s audit process is relatively configurable.
1. Prevent Fraud
Many people think of automation auditing as a way to detect financial discrepancies. That’s true, but it can probably do more for you than most realize. Automated audit software can help prevent fraud by comparing your company with popular benchmarks and raising red flags when false information is present in your system.
2. Eliminate Labor Costs
Labor costs account for an enormous amount of an audit budget. In addition to paying auditors, companies also have to cover their time, expenses and office space when they’re on-site at the client’s location. That’s an expensive way to do business while wasting valuable time and resources.
3. Stop Wasting Time
If your audit staff has to spend hours each day gathering audit material and entering data, you’ll be able to focus even more on the important things. Automation software helps eliminate unnecessary, repetitive tasks that slow down your compliance process. And with the help of automation auditing, staff can spend their time on more complex cases and investigations.
4. Gain Valuable Insights Into Your Business
Automation auditing also helps provide deep data analysis that can reveal important trends about your business operations and finances. It can identify any potential problems, like a sudden imbalance in cash flow or unusual sales activity that needs closer examination by an experienced auditor who understands your industry or business model.
5. Make An Investment With A Return
Using automation software is a great way to minimize financial risk and maximize your return on investment. It’s a smart way to explore new industries and business opportunities, but it also allows you to fine-tune your systems for greater efficiency and accuracy. The fact that it costs less than legacy approaches is just icing on the cake!
6. Reduce Staffing Costs
Who has time to listen to managers or auditors when they’re talking shop? Automation auditing lets you get more done in less time, so you can focus on your core business operations instead of managing the audit process. And with the right software, you don’t even have to be on-site.
7. Save Money On Audits
Savings are one of the key benefits automation auditing offers; the cost of audits and in-person reviews can cost your company billions of dollars a year, while generating absolutely no value apart from compliance. Most companies just accept this cost because it’s too hard to recoup that money.
This means you can use automation auditing as a way to improve cash flow and profits without having to spend huge amounts of money for oversight and reviews that don’t add value.
8. Ensure You Have No Surprises
With a custom-built automation software system, you can add all the key features your company needs, from basic monitoring to more advanced fraud detection. You can even integrate it with other systems so your audit staff has access to everything they need at the touch of a few buttons.
And since it’s linked to your network, it will alert them immediately whenever an unusual event occurs. It’s also built for scalability, so it can be customized to meet the growing needs of your business as you expand and grow.
Challenges Of Automation Auditing
The reporting laboratory is responsible for collecting audit evidence and audit data related to business processes and process improvement. The reporting laboratory may also be involved in providing input to the development of new or revised business processes.
Though audit automation began nearly half a century ago, today’s audit automation is primarily focused on isolated audit task automation, such as digitising working papers and managing them with CASEWARE, using audit software (e.g., IDEA and ACL) to perform specific audit testing, and running regressions with statistics software (e.g., STATA and R).
Intelligent process automation (IPA) is an audit data standard that establishes a framework for automating the collection and analysis of audit evidence. IPA defines a set of audit tools and techniques that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of an organization’s internal controls. The IPA standard is designed to help auditors reduce the risk of fraud and improve the quality of their audit reports.
1. Choosing The Right Platform
The world of automation auditing is a big one, with lots of options when it comes to selecting a system. You have to consider factors like your business model, business size, compliance needs and desired feature set. A consultant can help you navigate this complex process and make sure you select software that gives you the most value for your money.
2. Finding Qualified Resources
Automation auditing is vulnerable to fraud, so you need to be careful about the people who have access to it. Automated audit software doesn’t use credentials or hard passwords for access, which can make it vulnerable to hackers if not handled properly. When selecting a platform, make sure you’re getting the best possible data protection and security features.
3. Understanding The Benefits Of Automation Auditing
The fact that automation auditing is becoming more popular is a good thing, but there’s still a lot of confusion about how it works and what value it offers companies. Before investing in a system, make sure you understand how it will help your company save money and improve cash flow by reducing unnecessary costs for audits and reviews.
4. Selecting Metrics For Audit Process Improvement
Automation auditing can help you improve your business efficiency and performance, but that won’t happen unless you set the right metrics to begin with. This can be a challenge because you need to find a way to measure these factors in a meaningful way. Be sure to choose the right metrics for your business needs – and make sure those metrics are metric-based. Otherwise, you may not have much to show for the time and effort you invested.
5. Understanding Your Compliance Requirements
Automated audit software is meant to help companies comply with regulations, but that doesn’t mean it works exactly like other software platforms out there. For example, automated auditing systems don’t use CTRL+Enter or combo boxes (like drop down lists) – these are used more on other types of software that aren’t designed specifically for automation auditing. This means it can take some time to adapt to the way automated auditing software works.
6. Identifying The Right Platform For Your Needs
This is another big challenge with automation auditing. There are several different types of automation auditing systems, so you have to understand exactly what they can and can’t do.
For example, if your company is a manufacturing facility that specializes in woodworking, you may want to look specifically for a system designed for companies in the woodworking industry that has specific features related to operations on its platform. Likewise, if your business is an online retailer, you would need a different system than one for third party logistics providers (3PL) or warehousing companies.
7. Balancing Business Needs And Technology Demands
Traditional software requires a considerable amount of resources to implement and maintain, but automation auditing systems are quite different. They usually require less investment as long as you go with the right system that fits your business model and technology demands.
But it’s also important to note that they are more complex than traditional software, so you have to spend time researching which features will actually meet your needs while remaining cost-effective.
8. Maintaining The System Over Time
This is another challenge with automation auditing software, especially if you’re a smaller company or don’t keep records of changes made to the system over time. Maintaining the system can take a lot of time and effort, so you want to make sure you’re doing everything possible to keep it efficient and cost-effective.
Final Note
Furthermore, an RPA software licence, which can be used to develop many bots, can cost between $5,000 to $15,000. Automation auditing is quickly becoming an essential part of any company’s IT strategy, but it isn’t without challenges.
One of the biggest challenges is finding the right software that works for your business needs and investment capabilities. If you want to find out more about how automation auditing can help improve your business, schedule a consultation with a certified expert in automation auditing today.
Last Updated on October 11, 2023 by Priyanshi Sharma