Technology is ever advancing and new innovations impact everyday society including
the business world. Examples of new technologies that may affect the world of business are
electronic data interchange and image processing among others. Electronic data interchange
(EDI) gives users the ability to exchange business documents computer-to-computer in a
standard electronic format. This technology would eliminate the need for an auditor and a
client to process and send the data in another form (email or a share file, perhaps). This takes
the handling of data by people out of the equation which could mean a faster audit. However,
auditors must understand how new technologies will impact risk assessment procedures as well
as the effectiveness of controls in relation to audit evidence (Messier & Prawitt, 2019). Risk
may be increased by reliance of systems or programs that might be inaccurately processing the
data or may be sending inaccurate information.
Likewise, image processing is a way of using computer algorithms to extract the useful
information from a digital image. This new technology like EDI can be helpful by giving auditors
data in a timelier manner which enables them to make informed decisions quicker. This also
gives auditors an ability to look at larger amounts of data (than previously able) without relying
solely on sampling to provide materiality estimates. New technologies can also provide auditors
with the capacity to focus on higher-level skills by reducing the amount of time necessary to
review the more routine transactions. Though in both cases, auditors may have data faster but
determining the reliability of that data is the crux (Tysiac, 2022).
References:
Messier, W. Glover, S. Prawitt, D. (2019). Auditing & Assurance Services: A Systematic Approach
11th Edition. McGraw Hill Education.
Tysiac, K. (2022, February 1). Embracing technology in the audit. In Journal of Accountancy.
Retrieved from https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2022/feb/embracing-technology-
audit.html
