The future of audit in the digital world
Transformation, disruption, digitalization… We can find these words in every (financially inspired) article nowadays. I guess everyone can more or less explain what the definition of these words is; but the better question is: how can it be applied in a real company?
Take the Lead
I’m taking part in the Take the Lead program. As described in a blog post by my colleagues Nicolas Berden & Mathias Fransen, the Take the Lead program teaches how to handle digital transformation in your organization. It does this by giving appropriate definitions which can/need to be translated in an operational action plan. To establish an action plan, 4 building blocks have been defined:
- Digital transformation
- Digital innovation framework
- How to be an entrepreneur in the digital world
- Survive and lead in a vuca environment
The perfect mix
Whereas the first sessions of Take the Lead were mainly based on webinars and presentations given by prominent speakers; we received individual and group assignments in the other sessions. While performing these tasks; the purpose and direction of this training program became clear and effective. Indeed, the fact that each group consists of the perfect mix between background, job content, age and gender leads to the fact that I’ve gained several insights on the same topic and the related problem/questions to it which makes it easier to expand my view and out-of-the-box thinking.
Insights gained
For my job as an financial auditor and trusted business partner for clients; I’m convinced that the increased level of regulation (due to scandals; financial crisis etc.) should not always be considered as a burden as it is a fact that will not change (or can’t be changed by us). As such, we should think about the other aspects of the job by using the newest possible tools. These tools are adapted to the current way of living; but still give an adequate result to our original problem (which also remained unchanged). I’m just thinking of an audit process which is no longer planned on an engagement to engagement base; but is planned based on data which pops up via a continuous link between clients and data analysis tools.
From auditor to analyst
Even though my job consists of giving reasonable assurance on the correctness of financial information based on a set of laws & regulations (fixed factor); I’m convinced that the current job of auditor will evolve into a direction of an analyst. By having a ‘direct line’ throughout the year and based on analysis performed; I might assume that it will be easier to involve and present other service lines to the client to deal with the issue detected.
Possible items I was thinking of are:
- wrong evolution of working capital
- lack of control on remunerations paid out
- errors in IT interfaces leading to wrong financial information
- …
While typing this blog; new possible opportunities continuously pop up… It’s thus time to convert the theory gained in practice and as such take the lead as the perfect end of the program.