An analysis of auditors’ perceptions towards artificial intelligence and its contribution to audit quality

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems have significantly changed the audit process; nevertheless, the AI revolution opponents view this growth as a step-back as many auditors will fail to adapt to this new environment and will drop behind. Our descriptive study examines the perceived ease of use, usefulness, and contribution to the audit quality of different AI’s types. To address local audit firms concerns about their readiness to use AI systems in auditing processes and to advance auditing research, we examine whether perceived ease of use, usefulness, and contribution to audit quality vary by AI systems type (Assisted, Augmented, and Autonomous). An online questionnaire was used to collect data from 124 auditors representing local audit firms in Jordan. Our results indicate that auditors perceive Assisted and Augmented AI systems as ease of use in auditing while perceiving Autonomous AI systems as complicated to use. Besides, Auditors are underestimating Autonomous AI systems’ capabilities and perceived it as not useful for auditing. The results also reveal a significant difference between the perceived contribution to audit quality by the three AI systems types. This study contributes to the existing literature on AI and auditing by developing and testing a measure for AI systems’ perceived contribution to audit quality. This study also provides empirical evidence on how Jordan local firms auditors perceive AI use in auditing.