Abstract
In order to understand the impact of digital and artificial intelligence on auditing, it is important for professionals to understand the forces driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution. One of these forces is the explosive growth of data that fuels digital technology. Another force is the acceleration of the pace of change, which brings additional complexity in managing trust in an environment that is becoming increasingly insecure. For example, cyberattacks are becoming more complex and large-scale. Social media also creates new risks. In the field of auditing, first of all we need to understand the ongoing transformations, the types of risks and controls that need to be audited. On the other hand, these trends also open up new opportunities for accounting and auditing professionals. There is an active platform for audit professionals to understand these changes. For example, two years ago, an Ernst & Young survey showed that 74% of executives said they had no strategic plans for artificial intelligence. A year later, exactly the same survey results showed that 73% of managers are already ready to implement artificial intelligence (AI) or plan to implement it in the next 2 years. The second statistic provided by the World Economic Forum shows that 30% of every corporate audit will be performed by artificial intelligence by 2025. Finally, the OECD has counted more than 200 ongoing public sector audit blockchain initiatives in 46 countries. They show the importance of being prepared for this changing environment. To deal with these challenges, audit and finance professionals need to understand (i) how “what” they have to analyse is changing, (ii) the new risks that are emerging, (iii) the new opportunities offered by these disruptive technologies.