Impact of ICT Tools on Audit Process of Corporate Organizations in Nigeria

Abstract

The dynamism in the global business environment has introduced a dramatic change in the Nigerian business environment. Corporate organisations have therefore increased their need for new ways to succeed and survive. Corporate organisations deployed various ICT tools in order to address the problems pose by disparate applications within functional areas and to achieve competitive advantages, as a result, auditors have been force to introduce and utilize various computer-based tools to assist their work. This study assesses, from an exploratory grounded theory approach and theoretical perspective, the impact Information and Communication Technology tools are currently having on Audit process as a whole. This includes audit task from the external auditors and the corporation they work for from the point of view of coordination, control, authority and structure. The focus is to identify whether changes exist when auditing an ICT-deployed environment compared to a traditional non ICT corporation and if such changes are beneficial to the auditors. The finding indicates that ICT tool is rapidly reshaping auditors role and output as well as audit organization structure which in turn, tremendously affect the audit process and procedures. The result further confirms that increase in control risk in auditing is eminent with the deployment of ICT tools. While the auditors appreciate the potentials of ICT tools functionalities in terms of efficient access to information, timely audit trail, improved audit quality and efficiency, the problem of data integrity is of utmost concern.