Publication Type
Working Paper
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
11-2021
Abstract
We examine the impact of data analytics on audit quality. Using hand-collected information on data analytics skills of employees of audit firms, we find that human capital investment in data analytics improves audit quality. The analytics capability of both frontline and back-office employees contributes to audit quality. The effect is more pronounced for audit clients with complex business operations, for clients with complicated accounting estimates, and for clients that are more digitalized. Taken together, our findings suggest that an audit office’s analytics capability represents an important office attribute that can affect audit quality.
Keywords
audit quality, data analytics, human capital investment
Discipline
Accounting | Portfolio and Security Analysis
Research Areas
Corporate Reporting and Disclosure
First Page
1
Last Page
42
Identifier
10.2139/ssrn.3928355
Publisher
Singapore Management University School of Accountancy Research Paper No. 2022-151
Citation
GAO, Ru; HUANG, Sterling; and WANG, Rencheng.
Data analytics and audit quality. (2021). 1-42.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soa_research/1971
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.