RESEARCH FINDINGS:

Big data can actually play a major role in

enhancing the efficiency & effectiveness of
identifying and assessing factors like:
• The risk
• Material misstatement
• It assists the auditor in forming an overall conclusion
about financial statements.
• the data from the entity’s ERP & data warehouse
aswellas from sources like social media, surveillance
videos & stock market transactions can be used.
 Big data analytics can be applied to auditing domain
in the same way as it is applied to other domains:
• Tools which were used to corelate public moods and
stock market might be used to better identify and
evaluate engagement risk and thus reduce litigation
risk.
• Geographical and demographic data may improve the
audit process by focusing resources on more risky
parts of the business.
• By integrating different sources like news, audio and
video streams, cell phone recordings, social media
comments,auditor can obtain new forms of evidence.
• The Los Angeles Police Department analyzes data in order to predict the
location of crimes on that day and to deploy forces most effectively.
Similar analytics can be used by auditors for fraud detection.

• Finally, we note that internal audit groups at some large companies are
utilizing Big Data within their organizations.
Characteristics which sets big data apart:
• First, it is increasingly possible to analyze ALL or
almost all the data rather than just a small sample.
This can lead to models that are more robust than
before.
• A second shift in thinking is from causation to
correlation.
• Besides using Big Data analytics to perform audits,
audit firms can potentially use it for internal
purposes.