The collaboration between auditors and IT-auditors : The effects on the audit profession

Abstract: The development of information technology has significantly transformed the work of auditors and has presented new audit challenges. Organisations are more frequently using complex IT- systems which require that an IT-audit is performed. Since the auditors do not have sufficient knowledge regarding IT-audits, the audit team increasingly includes an IT-auditor. This study sets out to explore the effects of the collaboration between the auditor and IT-auditor and the related implications of this for the audit profession. Using semi-structured interviews, the findings suggest that the traditional authority enjoyed by auditors is being challenged by IT- auditors. The collaboration promotes commercial interest at the expense of weakened control and understanding among the financial auditors regarding the IT-audit. Also, the findings suggest that the communication between auditors and IT-auditors is limited which can create gaps regarding what the auditors have ordered and the material received from the IT-auditors. These findings can be argued to impair the audit opinion and thus challenge the future of the audit profession.