對世界金融危機的省思，人們認識到會計師對企業財務報表提供查核簽證服務(審計)，肩負資本市場守門員角色，與監理、公司治理同為金融穩定及確保公司財報真實性的三大要素。而不論是傳統抑或現代審計，均離不開資料處理，但隨著資訊科技日新月異發展，當今世界資料產生速度、數量及多樣性達到前所未有的程度，大數據(Big Data)時代已經到來。審計人員需要有那些新思維，才能確保跟上時代的潮流？
首先，抽樣的概念可能要改變。以抽查方式獲取查核證據，係現行一般公認審計準則基本原則之一，亦為過去審計人員主要沿用的技術。惟現今資訊科技的處理能力發展迅速，讓全母體查核成為可能，查核可能不再只是抽查數十個樣本，而是可以從數以千百萬計的帳簿資料中，分析趨勢、型態並辨識異常。
再者，重視事件之關連性更甚於因果性。面對海量資料，與其大海撈針似地追根究底某事件確實產生之原因，不如透過辨識及分析事件間之關連，預警將會發生什麼來得重要! 例如透過分析公司內部資料及外部市場資訊，藉以發現與公司財報重編、會計舞弊、破產或繼續經營疑慮之相關性。
三者，近年來資料分析(D&A)廣度及深度已大幅提昇。雖然資料分析如分析性覆核程序，係現行審計準則所要求。但拜資訊科技發展所賜，資料分析的廣度及深度得以擴大加深。包括如：分析公司經營計劃及發展策略趨勢對財報的影響；分析公司非財務資訊，很多時候，投資人視非財務資訊的價值更勝於財務性資訊；以及分析公司之外部資訊，例如零售業營收之查核佐以分析交通流量、氣象資料。
事實上，因應大數據時代對審計品質之要求，國際大型會計師事務所已爭相投入研究及提出實際運用工具。例如已開發出智能審計工具，能串聯受查公司之資訊系統，整合風險評估、內控測試及證實查核程序，並就特定項目，快速掃描數以千百萬計的會計分錄，同時透過比對產業KPI 標準，以辨識管理階層特定風險。又如，開發系統工具，納入受查公司歷史財務資訊、外部金融市場資訊及非財務資訊，利用統計學回歸分析發展推估當期財務數字之預期值，再與實際值做比較，協助判斷已取得查核證據是否足夠，並獲得對公司未來營運狀況的更佳預期。
審計品質之良窳攸關資本市場之繁榮與穩定，世界金融危機後，歐盟審計改革法案、國際審計準則委員會（IAASB）新查核報告準則等一系列審計改革已經展開。而大數據時代，資訊科技力量所帶來的衝擊前所未有，但一般公認審計準則基本概念仍固守傳統舊思維，審計需要蛻變的號角 已經響起，如何確保審計品質，進一步強化公眾對審計的信心，增進會計師查核報告之價值，實值各界關注 。
本文與區耀軍會計師合著，刊於2015/3/05工商時報專家傳真。
有關大數據於審計之運用，持續在世界審計實務界受到關注。以下係引述CFO.com 相關報導供參:
EY Sees Barriers to Use of Big Data for Audits
Not only are there technological obstacles, but there is also no definitive guidance on what data should be made available to auditors.
April 17, 2015 | CFO.com | US
Big data” and analytics promise to transform auditing, but there are still a number of barriers to successfully integrating them into the audit, according to the latest issue of E&Y’s
Reporting magazine.
The ultimate goal, E&Y says, is to have intelligent audit applications that function within companies’ data centers and stream the results of proprietary analytics to audit teams. With the technology to accomplish that vision “still in its infancy,” the interim solution is to integrate big data and analytics into the auditing process.
EY identifies data capture as one barrier to successful integration. “Companies invest significantly in protecting their data, which makes the process of obtaining client approval for provisional data to auditors time consuming,” the article says. “
In some cases, companies have refused to provide data, citing security concerns.”
Other concerns are that auditors encounter hundreds of different accounting systems and multiple systems within the same company, all containing different sets and types of data, and that embracing big data will increase the complexity of data extraction and the volumes of data to be processed.
The issue of big data was also recently addressed by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, which noted in its
member magazine that the audit profession “has historically struggled to stay ahead of the data curve.”
“The quantity of data produced by and available to companies, the replacement of paper trails with IT records, cloud storage, integrated reporting, and growing stakeholder expectations for immediate information — any one of these alone would affect the auditing process, but big data is bringing them all, and more, at the same time,” ACCA said.
Some large accounting firms are making huge investments in data analytics. KPMG, for example, is halfway through a $1 billion, five-year global investment plan in data and analytics solutions.
But the ACCA
noted that there is still no definitive guidance on what data should be made available to auditors and “current auditing standards have their roots firmly in the traditional audit process, where samples of transactions are examined rather than an entire body of data
