The Future of Remote Auditing

Internal auditors host a webinar on 'The Future of Remote Auditing.

The Institute of Internal Auditors Qatar chapter held a webinar for its members recently on the future of remote auditing. "Remote work is expected to continue more than before. Therefore it is important to set up the remote audit process and the related tools as thoroughly as possible with long-term success in mind," said Harold Silverman, Managing Director of Professional Practices at the Institute of Internal Auditors, Global, USA. Harold leads the IIA's CAE Services offerings, including thought leadership on emerging trends and leading practices. He has also held previously internal audit positions at Wendy's. Raytheon Co, PwC, and Arthur Andersen.

The anticipated audit process changes are additional options to Work From Home, further flexible audit plan, deeper data analytics, augmented agile auditing, and more consulting activities. The peripheral benefits are cost savings, reduced audit duration, and added automation.  The decrease in time spend on auditing onsite applies across business areas.

"Remote auditing heightens certain risks and also heightens the need for certain competencies. Though the impact on internal audit competency needs substantially stay about the same, the top competencies reckoned are communication, cybersecurity, innovation, forensic and risk management,"  Harold asserted.

Planning perfect meetings is a prerequisite for remote auditing. As a prelude, one should discuss and agree on the approach, evidence expectations, technology, privacy, and security concerns, if any.  Harold recommended that during a virtual meeting, plan extra time, the video turned on, group chat kept live, and provide related materials well in advance. "The context and nonverbal cues, including posture, still matter," said Silverman.

One of the primary concerns for auditors is accepting support documents as the best evidence for transactions.  The consideration for such a decision depends on the time needed to prepare and upload, what is the easiest for a client site, temporary direct access, sharing the screen with video on, and data analytics.

"The restraints such as network challenges, live streaming limitations, restricted areas for physical access had raised questions whether assurance is lower and audit risk is higher," stated Silverman.

The best practices for remote auditing are (1) Create criteria for assurance (2) Clear proactive and transparent communication (3) Risk-based than site-based audit plan (4) GRC and Workflow applications (5) Strengthen first and second-line workforce. The challenges in remote auditing include dealing with copies than originals, virtual deals instead of in person, lack of informal observations, technology glitches, fraud cover with false or created evidence, etc.  

"We were under the notion that remote auditing is a temporary adjustment, but it is rather here to stay. There is audit risk, meaning the risk due to the auditor's failure to detect material misstatements. Herold provided a good amount of learning on remote auditing to assess the effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement. The critical thought to assimilate was to manage balance and expectations for remote audit in terms of advantages and challenges. Auditors have to use this crisis as an opportunity to increase our agility and become more resilient for the future," said Sundaresan Rajeswar, a Board member who coordinated the event.

Christain Adonis, Past President of the IIA Qatar addressed the gathering, Girish Jain introduced the speaker, Rajeswar handled the Q&A session, and Muralikrishan and Murtaza hosted the meeting.