Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/288023 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Citation: 
[Journal:] Contemporary Accounting Research [ISSN:] 1911-3846 [Volume:] 40 [Issue:] 2 [Publisher:] John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [Place:] Hoboken, USA [Year:] 2023 [Pages:] 981-1012
Publisher: 
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, USA
Abstract: 
As audit technology becomes more widespread, practice and academia are raising concerns about the costs and benefits of these technologies. We examine how internal auditors use technology‐based audit techniques (TBATs) and how TBATs impact the efficiency and effectiveness of their audits. We use two surveys and interviews of individual auditors and chief audit executives (CAE) to examine their perceptions of TBATs. Auditors perceive TBATs as beneficial. Specifically, an increase in the use of TBATs is associated with completing more audits, finding more risk factors, providing more recommendations, and decreasing audit days. However, CAEs also perceive TBATs to be costly. An increase in the use of TBATs is associated with an increase in the size of the internal audit function. Finally, interviews with CAEs suggest that TBATs are not used more often because of difficulties in quantifying their benefits, observing their benefits in a timely manner, and hiring auditors with appropriate skills. Overall, TBATs stand to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of audit tasks, but auditors struggle to quantify their net cost‐benefit tradeoff. Our findings validate the issues raised by both proponents and opponents of audit technologies and help provide empirical data to inform their decision‐making process regarding the future of these tools. Additionally, our study prompts several avenues for future research that can help inform regulators, practitioners, and researchers on how these technologies are impacting the auditing profession.
Subjects: 
technology
internal audit
data analytics
auditing
technology‐based audit techniques
technologie
audit interne
tanalyse de données
audit
echniques d'audit basées sur la technologie
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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