Fast forward 20 years. Having gone through the Andersen’s led experiment with controls auditing, the great audit debate seems to be going around in circles. But one thing that almost everyone agrees on is the need for an auditor to review not only historical information, but also prospective financial information. Exactly how that should be done is still being… debated.
ICAEW (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales) is leading this debate. By looking forwards. It believes that the next-generation auditor will need the following:
– Ethics and values
– To be “guardians of data insight” with an ability to analyse Big Data
– To be agile, multidisciplinary business advisors
What will an audit be like in 20 years’ time? More than ever it will include an assessment of how management takes decisions, of how data is managed and of business impact on a wide range of stakeholders.
ICAEW believes that “Ethics must lead the human aspect in business decisions and advice…”
Who else can the world turn to if not the auditors?
