The last decade-plus has seen considerable advancements in technologies such as audit tools. Indeed, with the advent and increased usage of AI, more tools and solutions seem to appear each day, and there is no doubt that firms benefit from leveraging the technologies available to them. There is one thing, however, that firms should guard against and consider when adopting new solutions: that their tech stack doesn’t become too fragmented.
Despite the prevalence of audit tools, accounting and audit firms are busier than ever, facing significant challenges. Recent research from AccountingWeb reveals that 45% of accountants surveyed are worried about elements of their work and research as recent as April 2024 highlights that 56% of accountants suffer work stress. Considering these high percentages, it’s no surprise that firms realise they need to invest in their staff and staff work satisfaction.
So, audit firms have started implementing a variety of technology solutions to streamline workflows, covering elements like client collaboration, data analysis and access to transactions. While at first glance this may seem to help with the issues at hand, a variety of audit tools that aren't integrated can be inefficient and lead to a slowdown in the completion of jobs, more human interventions and reduced productivity from staff.
Switching to a single tool, such as Circit, to fulfil all audit processes will increase productivity and maximise automation capabilities, with minimal concerns around security and compliance.
The issue with adopting multiple audit tools
Risk and Compliance
Multiple systems create risk and compliance issues due to firms needing to download, manipulate and update data across their tech stacks. This increases the likelihood of data being tampered with and misappropriated by third parties. Additionally, compliance becomes more of a challenge, due to the need to use more resources for due diligence and to monitor multiple vendors.
Inefficiencies
Managing multiple audit tools is inefficient, since processes aren’t fully automated and still require manual intervention from staff. For example, auditors may have to download banking transactions in CSV from banks and change the format for data analysis purposes before re-uploading this data into another solution to start working with. This is slow, time-consuming and carries the risk of human-generated errors.
Clients (and staff) take time to learn new systems
Staff members are a precious resource, as is the time of clients. Working with several audit tools across technology partners means employees and clients must invest time learning how each tool works. Clients may not have the time, or may not be willing, to master new tools. Similarly, staff will need to invest time in learning these new audit tools when they are already stretched for time. In this situation, staff members become the proverbial ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ when it comes to audit tools.
Staff may be dissatisfied with workflows
ICAEW’s Audit and Assurance Faculty conference revealed that 73% of attendees identified attracting and training talent as their biggest challenge, so it’s critical for audit firms to do whatever they can to retain their staff. A fragmented audit tool tech stack can contribute to dissatisfied staff walking out due to inefficiencies. Tech-savvy staff knows there is a better way to streamline workflows and are unlikely to tolerate additional hurdles stemming from tech stack fragmentation.
Using Circit as the only audit tool for your firm
Circit’s platform fulfils the most used audit processes with a single tool.
This includes:
Confirmation requests - Fully automated creation and processing of audit confirmations.
Client collaboration - Secure and intuitive client collaboration for improved audit experience.
Verified Transactions - Transaction level third party evidence direct from source.
Signing documents - Legally binding e-signing of engagement letters and financial statements.
Confidence in the integrity and security of data
Using Circit means unlocking best-in-class security and data integrity. Data collected via Verified Transactions is accessed directly from the source, meaning additional verification checks aren’t required, and giving auditors confidence that transactions are complete and haven’t been tampered with.
Having to monitor security for multiple audit tools is time-consuming, and there is the chance technology stacks may be inconsistent across tools. Circit fulfils the highest security standards, as demonstrated by the platform’s SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications.
Stronger account management to leverage success
At Circit, we assign account managers to our customers. Account managers have deep expertise in the product and the wider industry, meaning they can help firms to streamline workflows and automate processes. If a firm relies on multiple audit tools, account managers won’t have a full overview of processes in play and may not be able to help their customers as efficiently.
World-class support from humans, not bots
Aside from that, the Circit support team is always on hand to answer any queries firms may have and even help chase evidence providers, leveraging the relationships the Circit team has built directly with evidence providers.
This is why you should switch to a single audit tool
Firms that focus on limiting the number of audit tools in play can leverage all the benefits listed above, and more. Want to see Circit’s holistic approach to audit tools and move away from your fragmented tech stack? Simply request a live demonstrationand we will show you how.
