Embracing a Paradoxical Environment to Promote Technological Advancements in the Auditing Profession: Prospective from Paradox Theory
Embracing a Paradoxical Environment to Promote Technological Advancements in the Auditing Profession: Prospective from Paradox Theory
Date
2021
Authors
Walker, Kimberly
Brown-Liburd, Helen
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Data analytics is fundamentally changing the way enterprises operate. Despite the acknowledged power of data analytics to significantly transform the auditing profession and the significant financial investments that organizations make in data analytic tools, internal audit departments and auditing firms are slow to incorporate data analytics fully. Through interviews with 27 internal and external auditors, we explain why the audit profession is slow to adopt. The auditing environment contains pressures for stability (i.e., pressure to change and transform the profession) and pressures to change (i.e., pressure for the profession to remain the same). Through our interviews, we find evidence that our participants’ responses to the environmental contradictions (stability vs change) are the primary reason the audit profession has been slow to incorporate data analytics. Consistent with paradox theory, we identify the underlying assumptions that our participants use when experiencing the stability/change contradiction during the audit process. We find that our participants’ assumptions toward the stability/change are consistent with Either/Or or moderation assumptions. For example, when participants use an Either/Or assumption to interpret the stabilize/change contradiction, the actors create unintended consequences by reinforcing traditional and outdated audit practices that do not promote technological advancement in the audit profession. When actors use a Moderation assumption to interpret the stabilize/change contradiction, we find evidence consistent with hindering technological change, suggesting that the actors perform redundant audit tasks that affect audit efficiencies and effectiveness.
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audit data analytics,
Paradox theory,
qualitative field interview method
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