The other day I was having a conversation with an acquaintance from a technology company. They noted that it is so frustrating dealing with their auditors, testing items on a sample basis when they have the technology and the means to test the entire population. Moreover, it can probably be performed in real time, to improve quality and provide more assurance. Yet the auditors remain with their trusted samples.
Like John Lennon invited the world to imagine in 1971, I invite you to imagine
a different future for the audit profession.
- Imagine a world where sample based audit testing has disappeared.
- Imagine every transaction being tested in real time, with assurance provided at the point of execution.
- Imagine an assurance badge on a company’s website, signalling that its controls and financial information are continuously compliant with accounting and auditing standards.
Imagine a world where timesheets have disappeared because the audit billing model has fundamentally changed.
It may feel like a stretch. The real world is far more complex than these ideals suggest. Yet, much like today’s AI race, where outcomes are uncertain and innovation is accelerating, it is increasingly difficult to say that such a future is impossible. Technology often moves faster than professional comfort zones.
In practice, however, several barriers continue to limit the feasibility of a truly real time audit environment.
Disaggregated and legacy system architectures remain a primary challenge. Most organisations operate within fragmented IT landscapes built over years of mergers, upgrades and point solutions. Core financial and operational systems often function independently, with limited integration and inconsistent data models. From an audit perspective, this fragmentation makes end to end transaction visibility extremely difficult. Legacy platforms were not designed for continuous assurance and frequently lack APIs, real time data access or reliable audit trails. As a result, auditors remain dependent on static extracts and point in time testing.
Data availability and quality present an equally significant constraint. Continuous auditing depends on accurate, complete and timely data, yet many organisations still struggle with basic data hygiene. Inconsistent master data, manual journals and spreadsheet driven adjustments undermine automated testing. Testing every transaction only adds value if the underlying data can be trusted; otherwise, poor data quality simply scales the problem by generating false positives rather than assurance.
Finally, siloed business processes continue to slow progress. Even where systems and data are available, processes are often owned and optimised within functional boundaries rather than designed end to end. Controls may exist, but they are not always documented, standardised or aligned across departments. Overcoming this requires more than technology, it demands process redesign, cross functional accountability and a shared understanding
of assurance objectives.
AUTHOR
Frans Geldenhuys CA(SA), CISA
One of the founding members of ALICE™ – an automated audit testing platform (www.bidvestalice.com)
