Unlocking the Power of Data Analytics
Dear Assurance Professionals,
”Big Data and Analytics” are increasingly hot topics with both the C-Suite and Audit Committees of our clients. Audit Transformation includes key tenants of audit quality, professional skepticism, and client relevance, and accordingly, we are exploring the use of data analytics in the audit as a way to both enhance our audit procedures and provide insights to our clients. Furthermore, in a climate of mandatory audit rotation and audit retendering, the use of data analytics is emerging as a key competitive differentiator.
Our Audit Transformation team is working to integrate data analytics into the fabric of our audits. To do so, our strategy is comprised of four key components:
1. Building robust and insightful analytics: to help us gain new and deeper insights into our clients’ business, generate enhanced audit evidence and drive better quality, resulting in more audit value
2. Transforming our data capture and analytics delivery capabilities: defining repeatable data capture processes, methods and tools, to address one of our primary obstacles to adopting analytics
3. Designing a globally-consistent analytics platform: to provide audit teams with a consistent and scalable technology platform for managing client data and producing analytics
4. Enhancing practice adoption: strengthening the use of our existing tools (EY EAGLe and the AAMs), and delivering enhanced enablement – materials and learning – to help you build the knowledge and skills you need to successfully use analytics into your audits
What have we accomplished so far?
We are making significant progress. We have developed our first wave of new analytics for large data sets:
· Financial Services – yield, mortgage, investment valuation and insurance claims and policy holders
· Other industries – general ledger, revenue and receivables, and purchases and payables
We have piloted these new analytics in the field for a full audit cycle on selected Private Middle Market (PMM) and listed-entity audits in EMEIA and the U.S. Audit teams that participated in the pilots concluded that data analytics has great potential to enhance their understanding of the business, help them to ask more relevant questions, and improve the quality and effectiveness of their audit procedures. Teams discovered new information about their client’s accounting processes and believe data analytics has the potential to change their audit approach in future years. Hear for yourself and view the Analytics testimonial video on the