6 Audit Planning Trends For Your Business In 2022

December 7 , 2021

It is now a time of the year when internal auditors worldwide are rethinking and strategising their audit planning process for 2022. In this new calendar year, businesses would need a dynamic and robust audit plan to assess their financial growth and combat complex risks and challenges that would arise in the future.

Audit planning is a continuous process of bringing new ideas to improve the organisational structure of small and large businesses. It focuses on creating the excellent and efficient workflow operation of companies to do faster execution of tasks and fulfil the desired expectations of clients. Auditors should work on a comprehensive methodology plan to meet the growing demands of customers. They should build their teams and put them in different areas and departments to examine the overall business performance.

The core objective of planning an internal audit should be to meet a client’s criteria and face the unexpected risks in the existing or following year. They should follow the strict rules and regulations as prescribed by ISO and IAASB to perform the audit procedure systematically and structured. It includes the nature and timing of audit work to complete the assessment and prepare a documented report to deliver to the company board of directors.

Following are the latest audit planning trends every business should follow in 2022:

Focus on Automation

Automation is a primary criterion of businesses nowadays. The focus on audit should be to implement automated software applications to simplify the tasks and streamline the internal workforce environment. Auditors must emphasise the organisation to utilise the utmost advantage of automation whenever and wherever necessary. It would improve efficiency and increase the level of productivity in the company.

The BPA and RPA terms should gain significance in organisations to enhance the task process, document sharing, and customer communication. They maximise the performance and minimise the cost of production. The site audit pro app is an excellent example of audit automation and analyses the strength and weaknesses of a business. It accumulates strong proof of evidence and creates instant reports.

Combining Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

In today’s era, businesses are willing to adopt the latest technology trends to innovate their processes and speed up their tasks. They hire a competent team of auditors to bring advancements in internal workflow management. Companies now rely on the modern innovative techniques of artificial intelligence and machine learning to automatically verify the evidence and provide comprehensive insight on the procedural and transactional view to forecasting the future. The use of machine learning will transform the way of auditing from a traditional to an analytical and predictive approach. It will drastically change the future of audits in the coming years.

Utilising the Data Analytics

Data analytics is the best tool to visualise hidden confidential data. It reveals the valuable insights of diverse data sets for small and large organisations. Companies utilise this tool to simplify the process of auditing and provide better risk assessment. It is a popular and helpful auditing tool to streamline the business process and identify frauds. It allows auditors to examine the accounting functions and manage the working operations profoundly.

Data analytics improves the dashboard performance and evaluates the real-time record of transactions at a particular location. It keeps track of regular transaction progress from a single platform and delivers 360-degree real-time results on a mobile-friendly interface.

Revolutionising the Mobile Audit App

The era of conducting a manual audit is fading now and replacing with the mobile audit. Creating a smartphone audit app is a huge success for companies. Many organisations are making their customised apps to manage the audit process and escape from long duration. The inspection app simplifies the process and allows auditors to collect authentic evidence to record and report the transaction. It makes it easier for auditors to compile the evidence and complete the audit work in a few minutes.

Numerous apps are there in the market, such as the iauditor app. It can be easily installed and downloaded on smartphones and is available for android and iOS platforms. Auditors can run this app on multiple devices like mobile phones and tablets to conduct a detailed and thorough audit process. Integrating the AI, ML, IoT, and cloud revolutionise the process of auditing and provides a smooth and seamless flow of tasks. Auditors can add a pictorial or visual proof of evidence and share the incident with others. They can schedule examinations and perform actions.

Using the Cloud-Based Data

Cloud computing technology brings about a drastic change in the way of auditing. It is an effective and efficient tool for storing confidential data and abiding by the protection policy regulations for companies. It provides full network access to the users and monitors the transparency of the audit data. Businesses work on multiple categories of cloud platforms, namely public, private, and hybrid. They also deliver the various cloud service models, including infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service.

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy

Companies are facing the risks of cybersecurity nowadays. It is a rising threat in organisations that are forcing them to take proper preventive measures. Implementing robust and flexible audit strategies help businesses detect their weakness or strengths in combating security attacks. Auditors must work in risk assessment, corporate governance, and IT regulations to comply with the policies. Auditors must look into the operational, physical, network, system, and data privacy issues to resolve them immediately. Data security is the core aspect of keeping the data safe and secure from a hacking attack.

Conclusion

Hence, in a nutshell, those mentioned above are remarkable audit planning trends for the year 2022. These trends will change the way of auditing forever. Forget about the traditional audit practices. It is now a time to automate your business with modern technological tools. The digital evolution will take the corporate audit to the next level and positively impact organisations. It will eliminate the paper audit practices and promote the smartphone app to conduct an audit efficiently without any hassles and headaches.

Also Read: Six Easy To Learn Techniques For Audit Planning