Data Analytics Drive Enhanced Risk Detection in the Modern Audit

Hidden in Plain Sight

Imagine trying to spot an individual in the middle of a crowded street. With so much activity, movement, and similarity in the crowd, defining features of individuals don’t stand out. And the more people there are, the more challenging it is to pick out a specific person. The large volumes of data involved in a modern audit are that crowded street, and the risks auditors look to identify are the specific person who needs to be spotted. As technology evolves and provides organizations with more data to work with, it also gives auditors more data to sift through — and that makes it easier for financial statement risks to remain undetected in the midst of it all.

Data analytics allow auditors to narrow their search, focusing their time and effort on the areas that matter most and where risks of material misstatements are likely to be present. By allowing audit teams to shift their energy and time from manual, repetitive tasks to technology-enabled, targeted procedures focused on areas of risk, they can perform a higher-quality audit.

Painting a Picture of Risk

In order to get to that stage, data analytics assist auditors through the power of visualization. Rather than scrutinizing a seemingly endless cascade of tables and numbers, audit teams are able to see that same information in the form of graphics, such as graphs and charts, pulled from complex data sets that include general ledger detail and account-level transactions. Subsequently, this makes patterns in the data easier to spot because it’s been transformed into a literal picture, and it’s within those patterns that anomalies, outliers, and hidden risks — previously a sea of numbers on pages of spreadsheets — can no longer hide. When these tools are combined with the sound judgement of experienced auditors that have heightened professional skepticism, it allows for a higher quality audit.

Keeping the Focus

Identifying and addressing risks by noticing patterns helps auditors in another important way. Data analytics tools allow auditors to focus on areas of risk because they can clearly recognize notable items and anomalies. This allows auditors to drill into those areas where it is more likely higher risk transactions exist sooner in the audit process. Additionally, these tools help auditors ask better, more insightful questions that can yield valuable insights into client operations and provide additional value to organizations by providing higher quality audits for users of the financial statements.

How BDO Can Help

Deploying innovative technology in the course of the audit is imperative in order to stay ahead of fraud, errors, and other financial risks. That’s why we created BDOADVANTAGE, our digital audit suite that empowers audit teams to perform a more effective, higher quality audit.

BDOADVANTAGE allows our audit teams to leverage analytics over full data sets in every audit as part of our standard risk assessment procedures. The digital tools map data to a standardized format, so we can provide comprehensive risk insights from start to finish.

Learn more about how BDOADVANTAGE gives our auditors greater visibility into your audit risk areas.