Annexes
Interview structure and questions
General
1. It is quite a popular quote that machines will substitute accountant and audit professions very soon. Do you think that it is a realistic case?
2. What changes are the most expected in the audit profession during the next 3-5 years?
Education and development
1. What education level/ fields are currently acceptable by audit firms hiring new joiners? Do you think that IT education could be accepted alone (without a background in other fields, as accounting, audit techniques or economics in general.)?
2. How does the firm promote the upgrade of IT knowledge base among employees? How does it encourage self-development in this field? What actions does it take and how often?
Work with data
1. What are the main tools you use to work with data? Do you think that the role of MS Excel could be significantly shifted to such tools as Alteryx or other applications that allow processing larger volumes of data?
2. Do you use internally developed programs to work with data (analysis, testing etc.)? What do they do?
3. Would you trust a sample selection to automated solutions, which accumulate instructions set by an auditor, or would you prefer to do a selection manually? Why? What is the impact on the audit quality?
4. New technologies allow the testing of the entire population of databases. What is the impact on audit quality? Are there any drawbacks of such an approach? Does it require significant time investments from staff to learn/ to perform procedures? If yes, is it worth it?
Blockchain
1. Do you consider it possible to use Blockchain technologies in audit? How can they be used?
2. What are opportunities Blockchain can bring to audit? What are threats?
3. How often do you meet cryptocurrencies among assets of audited companies? What are the main challenges auditing them?
Artificial intelligence
1. What is your vision of artificial intelligence integration in audit? How can it help in performing audit procedures?
2. What would you delegate to perform to a computer? What would prefer to do manually?
Data security
1. What are the main risks of adoption of new technologies for your clients? What are the main risks of adoption of new technologies for the audit firm? What do you think can reduce the risk?
2. What is the current practice of the firm in terms of data protection?
Compliance with regulations
1. Do the current regulations of audit oversight boards you are working with cover scope to be audited and methods to be used sufficiently? Do you think that regulations slow down innovations in audit?
2. Did you have experience that you would like to imply a new technological solution in your procedures, but it was out of regulations’ scope? (i.e. drones for inventory, remote audit during the lockdown)
Other
1. How do you think it will change relationships with clients when audits continue to adopt new automated tools?
