Accountancy Europe: Digitalisation - auditing more than financial data

16 April 2019

Wesley Schulte from Finext urges accountants to "include assessments of human resources or environmental impact to create audits that are of value for a company".

In Mr Schulte’s view, it’s also a wider question of regulation, not only a need for better focus on evolving client needs. “Although there are auditors who are currently going a step further in the services they provide, the profession is focused on rules and compliance. Currently, it is over-regulated.”

However, he has a positive prediction about future regulatory trends: “10 years from now, I think the regulation will be broader than only financial, so audit firms will have a bit more space to build more and better advisory services as well.”

He also sees a change in the focus of education as part of the solution: “Currently, professional education is all about getting the financial numbers right and all the boxes ticked. It needs to immediately shift focus to also looking properly at the other capitals that help create value for a company. These need to be audited too.”

He believes that auditors and accountants have an opportunity to overcome the status quo to fully meet the fast-evolving, technology-driven client needs that go beyond traditional financial data.

He’s confident that new opportunities are coming: “Accountants need to give their opinion as a professional, aware, informed and reporting information from the client’s perspective.”

Full interview


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