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Tech Trends for the New Normal & Beyond


Perspectives from Award-Winning IDEA Users

The global COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations to rethink how they work. Executives shifted into high gear to revisit business continuity plans, address safety and security concerns, and manage emerging risks. The disruption elevated our reliance on technology to collaborate with remote teams and maintain day-to-day operations. From visual heat maps tracking confirmed cases to predictive analytics projecting global economic impacts, technology played a pivotal role in keeping us informed and connected.

Even before the pandemic, audit teams were under pressure to move faster to stay ahead of risks and provide real-time assurance. The economic shutdown fast-tracked our plans for the expanded tech transformation, which was inevitable, according to Richard Chambers, president and CEO of the Institute of Internal Auditors.

He addressed the transformations that await us in a recent blog post: “The 2020s will almost certainly pose significant new challenges and opportunities for the internal audit profession. And it will be essential that we respond. To sustain and build on our success of the past two decades, internal auditors will need to pivot yet again to address the changing needs driven by high-tech disruptions that fundamentally impact how work gets done.”

Auditors are uniquely positioned to help their organizations experiment with these new solutions, including artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), and advanced data analytics to meet ever-changing demands.

We connected with some of our past IDEA User of Excellence Award recipients to get their perspectives on how these tech trends are impacting the profession and how they’re using IDEA to simplify their daily workflows.

Honoring Innovation
The IDEA User of Excellence Award recognizes individuals who embrace data analytics and agile principles to improve operations, protect profits, and outclass the competition. Award winners forge new paths in using technology to move their organizations forward and share their knowledge to advance the profession. Each year, Audimation recognizes the outstanding accomplishment of IDEA users who are making a meaningful impact in their organizations.


2011 IDEA User of Excellence
Mark Mayberry, CPA, CITP, CISA, CIDA

Mark Mayberry has used data analytics and other technologies to transform the role of audit. During his distinguished career, Mark has served on various technology task forces to help both internal and external auditors incorporate data analytics into their work.

He received the Award in 2011 for using IDEA to uncover material financial statement fraud in the subprime market that resulted in a multi-million dollar settlement. His efforts saved customers excessive fees and helped them avoid bankruptcy.

What innovative technology and modern approaches have had the biggest impact on the industry in recent years?

“Access to data, whether financial, operational or external, along with an increased capacity of computing power and storage means we can analyze disparate data in ways that were not possible or practical even a few years ago. Low-code and visualization solutions have opened up technology to individuals without statistical or programming skills. They can easily build out meaningful analytics and tell stories with the data, which produces a wider user base and creates efficiencies.”

With remote working and collaboration becoming the new normal, how do you see technology in audit evolving in the future?

“It is apparent that companies relying on internally developed, locally hosted, proprietary solutions with limited virtual access will likely struggle in the environment where remote working and collaboration are necessary. Companies that have modernized with access to cloud-based or externally-hosted solutions and digital transactions are more likely to keep functioning during extended periods of limited office availability.”

How are you currently using IDEA to simplify your daily workflow?

“Whenever I’m presented with data from multiple “sources, I import the files into IDEA and begin my data exploration. I can quickly gain an understanding of the data to identify ways to look for patterns and anomalies.”

What advancements are you most looking forward to as data analytics continues to evolve?

“The digital transformation has increased our access to data, but I would like to see the consumption of financial data processes simplified with increased automation of imports from the most common accounting software solutions. In addition, data sets usually come with multiple related tables and some automation of likely data relationships would be helpful for mapping the data.”


2018 IDEA User of Excellence
Jennifer Girard, CIDA

Jennifer Girard has mastered working with big, complex data to support the American Red Cross where she is currently a senior auditor. She received her Award in 2018 for using IDEA to develop more than 1,200 tests to help the organization ensure that generous donations are used to help victims of disasters. Her department worked closely with the Finance team to monitor online application processes and get financial assistance to hundreds of thousands of people in need of assistance.

What innovative technology and modern approaches have had the biggest impact on the industry in recent years?

“One of the biggest impacts we’ve seen from more innovative technology is the ability to test entire populations of data, rather than a small sample. It gives us a fuller picture of the data and allows us to make more accurate observations and recommendations.”

With remote working and collaboration becoming the new normal, how do you see technology in audit evolving in the future?

“In the new normal, I think overall we’ll see an even heavier reliance on technology within the field of internal audit, just like in many other fields. This will affect audits in a few ways. During audit planning, for instance, we may also have to think differently about risks in this new environment, and we’ll have to consider what data is available to us in a remote workspace. Auditors will have access to more data than ever before. But the key is going to be distilling relevant insights from larger and larger sets of data. There’s very little value in huge quantities of data if we can’t gain insights from it.”

How are you currently using IDEA to simplify your daily workflow?

“I use IDEA for any audits and advisory work to analyze large sets of detailed operational data. It helps me analyze data and I’m able to provide my clients with new insights. It also tracks each action and step I’ve taken for a particular project to document my analysis.”

What advancements are you most looking forward to as data analytics continues to evolve?

“Data visualization is increasingly important for helping stakeholders derive insights from our analysis. I’m a visual organizer, so having multiple flag colors to categorize tests would make it easier to spot areas of interest with visual cues. We also run a lot of joins and appends, so having the append function work similar to the Match function of the Join where we could better align columns would save us hours of time.”
 

2013 IDEA User of Excellence
Paul Soos, CIA, CRMA, CFE, CIDA

Paul Soos also believes the use of data analytics helps extend his reach and achieve efficiency. As the current director with EBITDA Enhancements, LLC, Paul uses data analytics for anti-fraud and compliance auditing. Paul is a long-time IDEA user with an aptitude for identifying indicators of fraud and high-risk areas. He is a regular presenter at industry conferences, sharing his knowledge through storytelling and effervescent demonstrations.

 

What innovative technology and modern approaches have had the biggest impact on the industry in recent years?

“Time-saving tools like IDEA have exponentially increased our coverage with minimal if any, additional time required. We have gone from the “needle in a haystack” sampling method to a complete review of all data, which leads not only to more potential findings, but also more confidence that we haven’t missed anything.”

With remote working and collaboration becoming the new normal, how do you see technology in audit evolving in the future?

“I see the audit field becoming more reliant on data than they ever have before. I believe that this will create opportunity within the audit team for data specialists, who can enhance both operational and financial audit teams to help drive results.”

How are you currently using IDEA to simplify your daily workflow?

“We’re using IDEA for a number of analytical projects mainly surrounding disbursements for accounts payable, purchasing cards and T&E. I always have my eyes open for new opportunities to incorporate IDEA into my projects.”

What advancements are you most looking forward to as data analytics continues to evolve?

“I am always impressed when I see new improvements and features in IDEA and wonder why I hadn’t thought of them first. There are so many variations in how names, numbers, addresses and other types of information are entered into a database. Expanding the capabilities of the Fuzzy Match feature would simplify our process for detecting errors and potential fraud.”

 

2017 IDEA User of Excellence
Kathryn Horton, CPA, CMA, CIDA

Kathryn Horton is the youngest recipient of the Award, and many others including the 2019 FICPA Horizon Award and made the CPA Practice Advisor’s Top 40 Under 40 in accounting in 2019. She began using IDEA early in her career to deliver higher-level reviews and provide better, more complete insights. Kathryn recently established her own CPA firm, where she provides a blend of personal service with deep expertise to help her clients gain a competitive edge.

What innovative technology and modern approaches have had the biggest impact on the industry in recent years?

“Data analytics have progressed in both their capacity to harness big data to find specific anomalies and create custom, automated processes to handle the heavy lifting. The potential is huge. We can take a two-hour process down to two minutes, and tailor procedures for high-risk areas using advanced statistical methods and data mining techniques. The infusion of AI is powerful and adds a lot of value to automating processes, with the incorporation of machine learning, but we need more guidelines and governance to define true AI standards.”

With remote working and collaboration becoming the new normal, how do you see technology in audit evolving in the future?

“Remote work has thrust us into a fully-electronic environment faster than we would have ever expected. There is an increased likelihood of risk and fraud, especially around funding programs like the PPP, payroll, revenue reporting, and even changes needed around IT and legal policies to protect information. The data management and landscape has changed, but we can embrace these new environments with visualization to see trends and anomalies, leveraging a hybrid mix of cloud and desktop computing for accessing client data, and ensuring compliance with applicable standards (which are also evolving).”

How are you currently using IDEA to simplify your daily workflow?

“I use IDEA every day for curveballs that pop up in internal control work, access controls and what I call, “who did what” auditing and various internal engagements. It came in handy when a client could only provide reporting in mix of Notepad and PDF files by month and division for five years of general ledger entries. The purpose of the engagement was to identify the scope and magnitude of fraud that was recently uncovered. With IDEA, I was able to create import templates to bring all the data from the general ledger reporting and streamline workflows to provide insights and an accurate picture of what was transpiring behind the scenes.”

What advancements are you most looking forward to as data analytics continues to evolve?

Looking forward, Kathryn plans to use the new Exceptional Exceptions App to take advantage of the built-in machine learning for more complex, higher-level technical features. The intuitiveness of IDEA has helped her explore new ways to use the application but looks forward to new features that will help refine her results.

“I’m able to create complex scripts and algorithms based on assessed risks, but there is still tailoring involved to personalize the assessment and deep dive into the findings.”
 

2012 IDEA User of Excellence
Matt Sondermann, CISA, CIA

Matt Sondermann has used process automation for nearly a decade. In 2012, Matt received the Award for using IDEA to save time, meet strict regulatory requirements and improve internal controls at the corporate level.

In a previous role, he used IDEAScripts to reduce a 16-hour manual review process to 15 minutes and increased the data coverage area from a sample selection to 100%. His work has helped other departments take ownership of monitoring their controls.

Today, Matt is director of internal audit at Stifel Financial Corporation, a multinational independent investment bank and financial services company.

What innovative technology and modern approaches have had the biggest impact on the industry in recent years?

“Robotic Process Automation, coupled with artificial intelligence and machine learning, are having the greatest impact on our industry. These emerging technologies allow processes to be automated from beginning to end, and the inputs can continually improve upon that process.”

With remote working and collaboration becoming the new normal, how do you see technology in audit evolving in the future?

“Audit will become more efficient as it evolves into more of a continuous monitoring function that allows for more targeted auditing of entire transaction populations. Gone will be the days of periodic random sampling!”

How are you currently using IDEA to simplify your daily workflow?

“We use IDEA for a wide range of functions, from simple user access testing for smaller applications to the construction of user access reviews for all physical access points managed in the enterprise-wide badging system to data mine for suspicious activity.”

Special thanks to our tech-fearless IDEA User of Excellence award recipients for sharing their insights and leading by example to strengthen the profession.

Technologies improve, challenges arise, auditing evolves and changes. While none of know what shape the “new normal” will take; know that Audimation will be right with you to collaborate, embrace new trends and rally to reach your goals the only way we know how – together.

Know someone who is forging new paths in using data analytics? Nominations for the 2020 IDEA User of Excellence are open through the end of June. Submit Your Nomination Now!


Audit , Data Analytics



Posted By

By Sarah Palombo
Sarah Palombo founded Avery Public Relations in 2007 and took on Audimation Services as her first client. She has more than 20 years of experience developing communications programs and creating content.


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