The Picher at al. defense of Business risk auditing is based on a critique of the old audit risk model and its assumptions of low non-sampling (operational) risk in the audit process.
They articulate and defend an extension of the audit trail idea which leads from 'entity business states' (EBS) via management information systems to business representations to accounting.
In this model, the dynamics of EBS must be a core focus for the auditor, who must understand the economic web in which the audited functions and creates value.
As the other papers suggest, a different kind of expertise will be needed here.
Picher et al. frame this in terms of systems thinking in contrast to an older transactions-based recur auditing culture, thinking which demands a ‘recursive process of evidence-driven belief-based risk sieve assessment’.
Interestingly, they also argue that assessment. Business risk auditing means that auditors must become more like financial analysts in their approach but with the advantage of more inside data.