Optimising Audit Workflows: with Automation

Optimising Audit Workflows: with Automation

Auditors continually seek ways to make their audits more efficient, consistent, and accurate, and some of our recent conversations with auditors have highlighted a few core challenges within traditional audit workflows. These challenges consist of the usual suspects, such as: 

• The time and processes needed for manual data ingestion
• Repetitive and time consuming testing processes
• Inconsistency in working paper outputs making it harder to review and approve
• Risks associated with human error, which are amplified in terms of personal risk

We are moving towards integrated AI solutions and optimisation, which can transform the above challenges, almost overnight. So, how do you integrate AI in a useful, yet still managed-by-humans way? It starts with some sort of a map.

Connecting AI with the Core Challenges in Audit Processes

Auditors typically face several common pain points, and here’s how the future looks:

1. How it is: Time-Intensive Data Collection: Gathering and processing data from source documents like invoices, sales orders, and payroll reports is traditionally a manual, error-prone process.
   
   How it can be: AuditBot seamlessly ingests data from various source documents, including invoices, sales orders, and payroll reports, using secure, ISO27001 accredited technology with AES256 bank-grade encryption. This automated approach significantly reduces manual workloads, speeds up the preparation phase and hugely reduces audit fieldwork.

    

2. How it is: Inconsistent Testing Methods: Manual testing and inconsistent application of parameters or sample sizes can lead to variability in audit outcomes.

    

   How it can be: AuditBot structures audit tests and presents the auditor with clean workflows to input the methodology they use. The tests can be adjusted for specific circumstances, but the structure allows for consistency of application and minimisation of error.

    

3. How it is: Efficiency of Working Paper Preparation: Producing standardised, high-quality working papers consistently is challenging, particularly when relying heavily on manual input and review.

    

   How it can be: AuditBot automatically generates structured working papers designed specifically for integration into audit files. These automated working papers require minimal manual intervention, dramatically increasing consistency and significantly reducing administrative effort.

    

It’s Important to Mitigate Automation Bias

To prevent this, AuditBot incorporates visual cues to indicate confidence levels in automated data extraction. These visual indicators encourage auditors to maintain necessary scepticism and conduct thorough reviews where automation confidence is lower.

Security and data integrity as foundations

AuditBot prioritises data security and integrity, processing all data securely within the UK, and offering robust security features that meet stringent auditor requirements. AuditBot is actively pursuing accreditation with ICAEW’s technology accreditation scheme, further reinforcing its commitment to excellence and reliability in data handling.

It’s available now

Audit automation through AuditBot presents transformative opportunities for UK auditors, tackling long-standing inefficiencies while enhancing consistency, accuracy, and audit quality. By adopting AuditBot, auditors can significantly reduce administrative burdens and shift their attention to critical analytical tasks, ultimately driving better audit outcomes and increased client satisfaction.

Your team can evaluate the efficiency and time savings it generates – contact jack.johnston@auditbot.co for more details.