Auditing in the New Age of Industry 4.0

Abstract

As the world moves towards a knowledge-based economy, technology is rapidly becoming a necessity. As a result, Industry 4.0 is gradually changing the face of many aspects of human endeavour. From manufacturing to construction and business, data analytics, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, among other things, look promising and may bring a paradigm shift within the accounting profession. This may be significantly drawn towards auditing. While technological changes seem rapid, taking giant strides towards revamping the accounting industry via modern kinds of audit evidence and testing, it is important to tread cautiously in the adoption of technology for auditing. This is because even though technological improvements are useful to achieve speed and accuracy in the audit work, they pose challenges of causing loss of jobs, difficulty in tracing errors, and other potential problems. This paper, therefore, looks at some recent technological development in audit work, and why this aspect of the accounting profession may require further research.