Private Companies Improve Performance through Audit Innovation

Auditors are now able to deliver authoritative insights that were previously not possible. This is made possible through breakthrough innovations in the field of artificial intelligence, data analytics and workflow automation. For private companies, this is good news as audit innovation is scalable hence making it possible for private companies to enjoy the benefits of innovative audits being carried out for bigger public organizations. The available intelligence and tools accessible to auditors may improve the quality of audit today through delivery of diverse insights that show new ways for organizations and their owners to take note of even as they endeavor to enhance business performance and also address risk. For instance, until recently, the usual audit has not yet capitalized fully the ability of analyzing huge sets of data. This is constantly changing now that cutting edge tools and advanced analytics have emerged.

The quality of audit is now improving through application of computer systems to tasks that at one time required time consuming and manual interaction with auditors. A good example is Deloitte’s too which leverages processing of natural language and artificial intelligence in order to automate review of documents through sifting through the whole population of electronic documents in a bid to learn major key concepts, identifying the main differences across documents all at a go and offering real time analytics.

Similarly, technology also streamlines audit processes and prevailing businesses. Asset verification for instance has been a major and critical audit step. The Deloitte auditors are today using Icount, a proprietary application in their smartphones and tablets for purposes of consolidating and scanning count results for inventory instantaneously for consolidating them real time and also analyzing them through an online portal. Conducting analysis of competitors and identification of leading practices is another advantage of private companies’ innovation. Auditors at Deloitte are able to leverage a research application for proprietary disclosure which taps massive data base of filings of public financial statements for purposes of identifying emerging disclosures and real time industrial trends. These types of innovations may offer dramatic advantages for private companies which may lack resources and infrastructure in generation of business insights on a wide scale.