查核資料分析之發展及應用──以臺灣四大會計師事務所為例

A Study on the Development and Application of Audit Data Analytics in Taiwanese Big Four Accounting Firms

本研究旨在探討臺灣四大會計師事務所發展與應用查核資料分析（以下簡稱查核分析）之情形。藉由對事務所負責查核分析之資深合夥人之訪談，及針對各所選擇之查核案件成員發放問卷，瞭解簽證會計師及查核團隊成員對於使用查核分析之接受度。訪談結果顯示，四大會計師事務所對於發展查核分析之動機、應用查核分析所面臨之挑戰、因應挑戰之方式、應用查核分析之效益、查核分析工具發展之現況與歷程，以及對該技術未來展望的大方向皆相似，僅在因應挑戰之作法上稍有差異。問卷調查結果顯示，應用查核分析時，大部分的工作仍由查核團隊成員執行，最常使用之工具為Excel。在接受度方面，受試者普遍認同應用查核分析確實具有效益、事務所持鼓勵態度並提供足夠的輔助資源，以及審計準則與國內相關法規並未阻礙其使用查核分析。另外，高度使用查核分析之案件受試者更加認同查核分析之效益與事務所提供輔助之足夠性。值得注意的是，受試者面臨較大的困難係判斷分析切入點，與正確判讀並解釋查核分析結果，此顯示查核分析主要扮演協助查核之角色，並未降低專業判斷的重要性。最後，本調查發現管理職與非管理職在某些面向存在認同落差，此結果顯示，為發揮查核分析應用之效益，事務所未來宜考量加強使用查核分析工具及解釋分析結果之訓練、增加資訊專業人員之輔助、加強推動審計創新提案，以及注意應用查核分析可能會增加客戶之工作量等。

The purpose of this study is to explore the development and application of audit data analytics (ADA) for Big4 accounting firms in Taiwan. In addition to the in-depth interviews with senior partners in charge of ADA for each audit firm to gain insight into the above issues, this study also conducts a questionnaire survey to audit engagement team members to understand the acceptance of ADA by both senior and junior auditors. The results from interviews indicate Big4 share similar responses in the following aspects: the motivations for the development of ADA, the challenges arising from applying ADA, how they address the challenges faced, the benefits of applying ADA, the evolution of ADA tools, and the future outlook of ADA. There exists only minor differences in how they respond to the challenges. As to the questionnaire survey, the results find that most of the additional work needed for ADA application are provided by audit team members, and among the tools used, Excel is the most popular one. With respect to the degree of acceptance, the auditors surveyed agree that the use of ADA is indeed beneficial and the sufficient supports are provided by their audit firms. Further, the auditing standards and related rules do not discourage them from using ADA. In particular, for heavy-ADA application engagements, audit team members tend to appreciate more on the benefits to their audit and the supports from the firm. In addition, they perceive both audit standards and related government rules do not discourage them from applying ADA. Interestingly, this study finds that the biggest difficulty faced by audit members is to make right judgments on when to apply ADA, and how to interpret the results from ADA application. This implies that how to exercise professional judgements remains very critical to auditors while applying ADA. Lastly, this study finds that supervisors and audit staff have different views on certain aspects, such as the difficulty in using ADA tools, the perceived workload of the client, and the sufficiency of the support by their audit firms. This finding suggests that it is important to emphasize more on the perceptions by audit staff in the future training. The accounting firms may also like to encourage innovations from audit staff and provide sufficient IT support to make the ADA application more effective.