Future of IT Audit ???

IT audit has always been viewed as a support role to an audit which by itself is very true. However, as times change, the way we do work has changed as well. More companies and individuals have embraced newer technologies that offer efficiency and accuracy.

Across the world the push has been towards more streamlined processes that provide transparency even in enterprises operating in multiple countries and industries. In this quest companies have adopted numerous systems in solving their problems or one system that offer them multiple functions. It has become almost impossible to run a successful company without the support of powerful systems. In ensuring the integrity of the application and systems in place and the role they play in the overall business enterprise, IT audit has played a very crucial role and brought better understanding in audit.

The future of IT audit lies in great understanding of the client with access to tools that help the IT auditor perform their tasks faster and accurately. Emerging technologies in artificial intelligence have resulted to powerful tools that can be used in detecting fraud. Data analytics is another way that the IT auditor will gather great insights. Client data is growing by the day and being able to decipher what the data is all about and make conclusions is a great asset to the audit. Use of machine learning is another way to get ahead. Having programs that are able to learn the client system over periods and understand what happens can then lead to identification of errors or anomalies in the systems. This would then point out the bigger issue.

We can’t talk about the future of IT audit without talking about the need for increased security for systems. There has been an increase in hacking and cyber wars that have posed great risk to companies with large loss of data and confidential information. Going forward these risks and threats will increase, so finding a solution will be of high importance.