What new challenges do emerging technologies pose for certified public accountants?
Professions are still adapting to new technological changes—and not just accounting. This is a challenge facing all professions in a changing and dynamic world.
Our profession, in particular, has always been subject to significant changes. Before the advent of computers, the work of an accountant was manual and paper-based. Computers changed the nature of the work, but they did not reduce the amount of work. Routine tasks disappeared, and others with greater added value emerged.
Certain tasks that are still performed on a repetitive basis will require less effort, freeing up the professional’s time to perform more analytical tasks that require greater conceptual ability and to become a better advisor.
Accountants must stay up to date and understand business models. Many new businesses present significant accounting challenges. Furthermore, today’s international financial reporting standards are highly sophisticated. In addition to understanding the client’s business environment and operations, accountants must understand how these changes affect the practice of their profession.
Firms are looking for dedicated professionals who are highly creative and open to learning. Having knowledge will be the foundation for adapting to change. Today, an accountant must have a solid grasp of the fundamentals—the kind taught in college—and then come to terms with the fact that they will have to reinvent themselves because the nature of the work is constantly changing.
Specifically, what challenges are involved in the audit?
Over the past 10 years, professional standards have increased significantly, forcing firms to ensure that audits are not left solely to the discretion of the professional in charge. Professional judgment is always very important, but software helps. Data analytics [a process that involves generating useful information by analyzing data] is now used in all kinds of activities, including commercial, industrial, and auditing.
Consulting firms, such as ours, are working on two fronts: advancing data analytics to help clients with their businesses and developing auditing platforms that incorporate tools far more powerful than those we’ve had until now.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, how do you think it will change the work of the profession?
Artificial intelligence will enable task sequences that are currently performed manually to be carried out entirely using technology.
It will likely move the field away from manual labor or reduce the need for human involvement. It will make it possible to provide better services as consultants and analysts, adding value that accountants often fail to provide today.
We can work as independent professionals or employees, or we can be business owners. In any field, information that is used effectively and backed by technical expertise is extremely valuable and saves time.
A business is a dynamic asset, and accounting is the method used to track how that asset evolves. One must understand the reality of the situation and the methods needed to reflect it. The analyses available to decision-makers can be endless, provided one can compile explanations and information that prove valuable.
What responsibilities will auditors continue to have in the future?
The auditor’s role is unlikely to change in any significant way. If someone goes to a bank to apply for a loan and is asked how they plan to repay it, it’s not enough for them to simply state their monthly income. They will be asked to provide proof. The same applies to a company: if a company wants a loan, there must be an external party who performs a professional assessment and confirms that the financial statements reasonably reflect reality. That role of the auditor—adding credibility to the financial statements—will not change.
As a professor of auditing, how do you think these changes affect students' education?
Traditionally, audit teams have included systems engineers. What we’re saying today is that this will have to change. Teams will need people with a background in computer science who also understand auditing, as well as auditors who are highly proficient with systems.
Teams will become much more multidisciplinary, and while this approach is already incorporated into ORT’s curriculum, we will continue to move in that direction.
In any case, in addition to the changes resulting from the ongoing program improvement process, the curriculum already includes specific elective courses in the field of computer science so that interested students can supplement their education in this area.