**4. Data analysis and findings**

Fifty-two papers were identified as relevant for this study. Each paper was reviewed to identify the impacts that the adoption of emerging technologies might have on the audit process. In papers where the impact was not specifically stated but the benefits of adopting emerging technologies, a thematic analysis was performed to identify the changes required within the audit process and profession.

**Table 1** shows the frequency count of impacts identified from the SLR (detailed analysis extract in Appendix A). Note that in most cases, more than one theme was identified in an article due to the relationships that exist between elements in each theme.

**Table 2** shows a summary of participants' professional and demographic information referring to each participant number. The participant number serves as a reference point and is used in the next section as part of the interview analysis.

A detailed analysis of the transcribed interviews are presented in the next section.

#### **4.1 Audit process**

All participants indicated that the automation of the audit execution step had had a significant impact on their teams, with the main benefits as less time required from auditors for mundane, repetitive tasks during the audit execution phase. Time is spent on exception investigation, opinion-forming and audit judgment. This has improved the overall quality of audit deliverables and client relationships. Typical audits consist of three main phases: audit planning, audit execution or testing phase, and the audit reporting phase. Audit opinions and judgments are formed during the reporting phase based on the outcome of the testing performed during the execution phase [27].

*Perspective Chapter: Audit Digitalization – Key Impacts on the Audit Profession DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109042*


**Table 1 .** *Themed impacts identified.*
