Understanding the Struggle to Meaningfully Change the Audit Process: A Critical Need for Expansive Learning

• In Event: Audit Firms and Innovation

Abstract

Innovation and technology can and should be changing the way audits are performed. Yet academics and practitioners indicate that auditors are struggling to implement change. On the one hand, auditors know audits need to change and that innovation and technology are critically important for the profession's future, but on the other hand, they insist they do not know how to change the audit process meaningfully. We interview seasoned internal and external auditors to understand their struggles with innovation and technology. We interpret findings using theory that illuminates the numerous barriers auditors face when attempting to audit differently. We propose that auditors’ ability to be innovative and use technology in a transformative way will increase if they undertake an entirely new type of learning, expansive learning, and propose a path towards it with suggestions for practitioners and calls for future research. Such learning points to a rewarding future for the auditors who can meaningfully change the way they audit.

Authors

• Jessica Berube, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Roger D Martin, University of Virginia

• Eric Negangard, University of Virginia