My first role post-graduation was working as a financial statement auditor. We used tick mark pencils on printed workpapers, and we manually footed (recalculated) balances. On my second engagement, I begged my manager to let me use annotation in PDF and Excel to expedite the process. He believed in me, and we accomplished the same level of quality in half the time it took the year prior.
We used the time savings to dive deeper into more meaningful work and, as an independent auditor, we accomplished something rare: true value-add feedback for the client. At the end of the project, I had spent the same amount of time as my predecessor, but I was able to accomplish so much more.
Fast forward, and we are now facing the same exact situation with analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA). While there continues to be resistance to these solutions and fear among the general population, it will not replace us; it will empower us.
AI and the other tools often mentioned in the same breath are enablers; they will allow us to reduce time spent on remedial tasks that do not add value or do not require critical thinking to accomplish. But they are not a magic bullet—they must be implemented intelligently and with a strong understanding of return on investment.
Unlike switching from a paper-based audit to leveraging the tools on my enterprise-issued laptop, there is a significant cost associated with these new tools, and one that must be evaluated against the efficiencies that will be gained upon implementation.
As nice as it is to eliminate the repetitive and tedious task of matching change tickets to changes within enterprise resource planning, it only takes 20-40 hours a year to test this process on average, and while we have yet to reach economies of scale with some of these solutions, the automation of testing such a process can be expensive. While it is feasible, it may not be the best use of resources for an organization. Just like any advancement in our profession, we must be strategic and practical, harnessing the power of AI where we will see the best return on our investment.
Read Jake Nix's recent Journal article:
"The Intelligent Audit," ISACA Journal, volume 6, 2019.