In today’s digital era, Internal Audit Functions worldwide are adopting new technologies and methodologies to bring value to their organizations. Organizations are innovating their Internal Audit processes to future proof themselves, by embracing change and disruption and understand how best to apply new approaches and technologies. Organizations are adopting advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, applying agile internal audit principles, automating core processes to prepare themselves for the business of tomorrow. With technologies advancing quickly. it is time for the Internal Audit Function to understand and prioritize opportunities for automation and take necessary steps to bring value to business.

Embracing Automation in IA

• Internal audit can leverage automation throughout the audit life cycle in many ways, such as risk assessment, audit planning, tracking, and monitoring, etc. Organizations can benefit themselves by investing in automation technologies to yield positive results by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their audit life cycle and providing greater insights into the business.
• Implementing automation to perform manual activities enable organizations to better allocate their resources. Automation can free up the personnel from performing daily activities enabling them to focus on higher-value activities, such as exception management, process improvement, and interpersonal interactions. This shift toward value-added activities can improve operating effectiveness, allowing the IA organization to keep pace with business changes and the associated impact.

Process Automation

• Process Automation and cognitive Intelligence can perform audit-related tasks all around the clock at an accelerated pace as compared to that of manual processes, thereby increasing efficiency and reduced costs.
• Automation enables tasks to be performed more uniformly and efficiently and the results are highly traceable and auditable. This reduces manual errors and improves the accuracy and quality of audits. The errors or mistakes can be detected more readily and rectified more easily due to the standardization of the process.
• Every organization seeks to increase assurance and coverage. Automation enables Internal Audit functions to increase the frequency of testing and to transition to a continuous auditing model for providing timely insights to the business. As technologies evolve, providing proactive insights and analysis will increase the business value in tandem.

The Challenge

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a game-changer for businesses. Accelerated advancement in machine learning, data mining and cognitive computing, moving forward AI can lead innovation in the global. There are certain issues and fears that need to be addressed.

• There is a general vibe among experts that AI will, in fact, replace humans in doing the tasks that are currently done by humans and performing at an accelerated pace and more accurately, making the workforce more redundant. Rather, it is helping companies provide efficient services and create new jobs across the globe.
• Another challenge of the AI revolution is the changing job skills and demands it will place… Experts are predicting that the businesses of the future will be AI-driven, thus, training and developing new skills will become mandatory for new job roles.
• Furthermore, not everyone is fully convinced of AI. Society is still a long way from reaching a point where AI can replace human judgment, personal experience, yet clearly, there will be ongoing change to existing business models and it will potentially alter the way organizations operate.

Conclusion

Automating the Internal Audit function is not a remedy or solution to all the difficulties or issues faced. Proper understanding and implementation of the automated process will require dedication and resources. Organization’s need to cultivate the proper mindset, skillet, and toolset within their internal audit function. They have to, simultaneously look to the future and to the past, to make up with the team and focus of their audit functions to deliver value and drive positive change across the organization.

Internal Audit Automation Solutions like ConfidentG Governance as a Service® assist in measuring and improving your Audit life-cycle covering all the phases from Planning to Testing in International dynamic Environment with Agility, Scalability, and Transparency.

Visit us at our Appexchange listing today at https://cglabs.us/cg_products and get confident with your Governance initiatives.