Big Data Analytics and Auditing: A Review and Synthesis of Literature

Abstract

The use of data analytics in auditing is increasingly growing. The application of common data analytics to audit engagements appears to be lagging behind other areas of practice, even though data analytics is thought to represent the future of audit, and there are still few publications that have examined this influence. This article reviews data analytics in audits and its potential for future audit engagements to describe the evolution of this research trend and picture its future growth directions. Future audit research potential and difficulties are also discussed. Data analytics application in auditing has enormous potential for refining audit quality, decreasing errors, increasing process transparency, and enhancing stakeholders’ confidence. We conducted a systematic literature review using the PRISMA approach. A total of 100 articles published in English from January 2011 to November 2021 were identified through a systematic search of reputed databases, including Web of Science and Scopus and many others. Our analysis reveals that data analytics is a promising domain for the auditing practice as it improves audit efficiency and promotes audit work digital transformation. While reviewing the most pertinent literature in the context of data analytics in auditing, this study offers insights on potential new directions and waning views on big data analytics in auditing. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-02-023 Full Text: PDF

The Assessment of Audit Evidence in Big Data Environment A Field Study

“…Recently, Hezam et al(2023) reviewed the literature on the use of BD and BDA in auditing. The study concluded that BDA is a promising technology that can significantly improve the effectiveness of auditing.…”

“…BD has the potential to revolutionize many industries, as it plays a double-edged sword that BD can be used to discover hidden patterns and insights that were previously unknown, adopt modern tools in the auditing process, and thus achieve the required speed in implementing auditing procedures effectively with high quality, cost savings, time savings (Hezam et al, 2023).On the other side, it is considered a challenge because auditing faces some problems such as data acquisition, information overload, pattern recognition, information relevance, ambiguity, privacy, and security concerns, as data can be sensitive and significant Lee, 2017;Vanbutsele,2018).…”