ABSTRACT

This study focuses on the recent development in audit technologies, i.e., the rise of Big Data and Analytics (BDA) tools, and how auditors make use of them in audits. While prior audit studies have acknowledged that audit technologies shape and re-construct the market for audit services, they have not devoted much attention to the performative nature of such technologies and how their properties may shape the dynamics of technological change. Drawing on sociomateriality literature as well as observations, documentary materials and 25 semi-structured interviews with individuals directly engaging with BDA, this study explores how BDA users interact with particular properties of the technology in the course of an audit. We then consider how these interactions reconfigure aspects of the audit process and change the relational dynamics within audit firms. In particular, our findings suggest that properties of BDA such as scripts have afforded large-scale automation of audit routines, generating opportunities for expanding the evidential scope and depth of audit work. Further, we also show how the visualization dashboards have contributed to auditors’ ability to communicate and justify their claims and judgements. Finally, we demonstrate that BDA has reshaped the nature of work relationships and flows between audit firms’ different functions and service lines.

摘要

本研究重点关注审计技术的最新发展，即大数据和分析 (BDA) 工具的兴起，以及审计师如何在审计中使用它们。虽然先前的审计研究已经承认审计技术塑造和重建审计服务市场，但他们并没有过多关注此类技术的执行性质以及它们的特性如何影响技术变革的动态。借鉴社会物质性文献以及观察、文献资料和 25 次对直接与 BDA 接触的个人进行的半结构化访谈，本研究探讨了 BDA 用户如何在审计过程中与技术的特定属性进行交互。然后我们考虑这些相互作用如何重新配置​​审计过程的各个方面并改变审计公司内部的关系动态。特别是，我们的研究结果表明，BDA 的属性（如脚本）提供了审计程序的大规模自动化，为扩大审计工作的证据范围和深度创造了机会。此外，我们还展示了可视化仪表板如何提高审计师沟通和​​证明其主张和判断的能力。最后，