INTHEBLACK June 2025 - Magazine - Page 38
FEATURE
“I suspect in five years’ time, auditors will be required
to work very closely with more disciplines, such as data
scientists and environmental engineers, than perhaps
they’ve worked with to date. I think that’s a skill that
auditors are going to have to become more adept at.”
CHRISTINA LARKIN, EY
of big bets” for delivering digital audit into
the future.
“We began to focus on technology-enabled
auditors and then, from about 2022 through
to 2025, with the introduction of generative
AI tools, it shifted to integrating AI with
people at the centre,” she says. “Now we’re
on a journey toward having our auditors
become like the air-traffic controllers for AI.
We’re moving to a world where auditors are
providing the direction and oversight
to guide agentic AI workflows.”
EY’s audits are now powered by online
audit platform EY Canvas and data
analytics platform EY Helix. The third
piece is “our AI and automation capability,
and all three pieces of the puzzle fit
together in our technology platform,”
explains Larkin.
Blockchain technology has also created
buzz within the industry due to its
transparent and decentralised ledger system.
Tony Corry, director, technology assurance
and advisory at PKF Brisbane, says the
technology holds great promise, but that
AI is currently taking the front seat
for transformation.
“Blockchain improves the accuracy
and efficiency of audit because it is almost
impossible for any transactions to be altered,”
he says. “The technology is still evolving.
I also think the audit industry needs to
enhance its processes to incorporate a client’s
use of the technology.”
As AI continues to transform the audit
function, Corry says governance will play
a vital role.
“There certainly must be policies in place
for audit teams to follow and an expectation
that they’re using AI responsibly,” he says.
“For example, I think it’s well understood
that you don’t put client-specific data into
a tool like ChatGPT.”
38 INTHEBLACK June 2025
2. MORE EYES ON ESG
Climate reporting is mandatory for certain
entities in APAC markets like Singapore,
Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia,
and similar directives are set to follow
in China and Hong Kong. With investors
and stakeholders increasingly seeking
transparency in environmental, social
and governance (ESG) initiatives, audit
is extending to non-financial disclosures.
“Sustainability reporting and assurance
requirements are going to transform not
only the data that we look at, but also the
procedures that we conduct,” says Larkin,
adding that there are challenges to navigate.
“The level of maturity in non-financial
disclosures is nowhere near the level
of maturity we have with financial
disclosures — one of the reasons being that
often non-financial information exists
in disparate systems,” she says. “I suspect
that between now and 2030, a lot of work
will go into increasing the maturity, trust
and reliance on sustainability datasets and,
from an audit perspective, augmenting those
procedures using AI.”
Larkin expects that digital capabilities
for financial audit will be leveraged for
non-financial audit, but that this will require
“a huge amount of upskilling for auditors,
because suddenly the types of datasets they’ll
look at will expand”.
“I suspect in five years’ time, auditors
will be required to work very closely with
more disciplines, such as data scientists
and environmental engineers, than perhaps
they’ve worked with to date. I think that’s
a skill that auditors are going to have
to become more adept at.”
3. A COMPLEX REGULATORY SPOTLIGHT
Audit is a highly regulated profession.
However, collaboration between international
