JAČANJE KORPORATIVNE ODGOVORNOSTI KROZ (RE)POZICIONIRANJE REVIZIJE U DIGITALNOM DOBU
STRENGTHENING CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY THROUGH (RE)POSITIONING THE AUDIT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Author(s): Radomir Božić
Subject(s): Business Economy / Management, Accounting - Business Administration, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: Finrar d.o.o Banja Luka
Keywords: digitalization; artificial intelligence; big data analytics; blockchain technology; continuous audit; corporate governance;
Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to point out the need, challenges and essence of (re)positioning external audit as one of the mechanisms of corporate governance in the digital age. Digitization, understood as the process of applying new digital technologies in the operations of companies, significantly determines their overall business activities, including the process of financial reporting and auditing of financial statements. Traditional auditing is already changing as a result of the application of digital technologies embodied above all in artificial intelligence, big data analytics, blockchain and robotic process automation, and further acceleration of these processes by large audit firms is expected. The changes are reflected in the automation and optimization of routine and repetitive audit activities and procedures, the possibility of checking and testing entire populations of data and information contained in financial reports and thus abandoning sampling in obtaining audit evidence, access to all data and information about the client in real time, which makes the transformation of traditional audit into continuous audit more and more realistic. This creates the potential for the audit to provide better support to the corporate management process through: (1) greater relevance and quality of audit services, which will have greater added value for the client, but also for all stakeholders, (2) expanding the range of audit services including more reliable risk assessment, proposing solutions for identified problems, focusing not only on historical information, but also on current data, but also more reliable assessments of the probability of client bankruptcy. On the other hand, such processes require additional competencies and a new professional profile of auditors and the creation of a culture of innovation in audit firms in order to remain competitive on the market for the provision of assurance services in the era of mass digitization. In this paper, after the introductory considerations and review of the relevant literature, an overview is given of the approach and research results that indicate the expected effects of digital transformation and (re)positioning of audit as one of the mechanisms of corporate governance. The fundamental messages and conclusions are synthesized in the final part of the paper.

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