Planning the audit of financial statements: regulation, documentation and specifics in the context of digital transformation

Abstract

One of the key prerequisites for an effective audit is its high-quality planning, since it is at the planning stage that approaches to assessing audit risks are formed, the objectives, scope and resources of the audit are determined, and the audit strategy and plan are developed.

The purpose of this article is to study the theoretical and methodological foundations and practical aspects of audit planning, taking into account the challenges associated with digital transformation, in particular, the impact of automation and artificial intelligence technologies.

The scientific research was based on the use of the following scientific methods: analysis and synthesis - in the study of the peculiarities of the interpretation of the term ‘planning’; dialectical analysis - for theoretical generalisation of the peculiarities of planning the audit of financial statements, which are disclosed in the works of scientists; abstract and logical analysis - for the formation of a logical and structural scheme of the study, determination of the purpose, identification of tasks for preparing a scientific article; graphical method - visualisation of research results, structuring of information; SWOT analysis - for a realistic assessment of the feasibility of using artificial intelligence to plan the audit of financial statements.

The research results include specification of the importance of planning in the audit process; characterisation of the key principles of audit planning; description of the audit strategy and the auditor's tasks in the process of its development; generalisation of the stages of the audit plan preparation process; description of specialised software products that automate the process of planning the audit of financial statements; and a SWOT analysis of the use of artificial intelligence for planning the audit of financial statements.

The results of the study showed that high-quality planning of the financial statements audit is the key to the successful conduct of an independent audit. The high level of organisation of this stage directly affects the auditor's ability to identify audit risk, allocate resources optimally, establish relevant audit procedures and adhere to the principles of professional scepticism and objectivity. The integration of specialised software and artificial intelligence technologies is a strategic direction for improving the quality of audit planning.