Covid-19: adapt and innovate

The year 2020 was a year of adaption and innovation. The Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing restrictions severely upended our way of working, and our examination and auditing processes in particular. Like any other organisation, we had to quickly adapt. Thankfully, pandemicrelated challenges brought new opportunities, and accelerated innovations already underway.

Digital examinations as an option were already in the works when the pandemic hit. The lockdowns however put them on the fast track and auditor examinations took place exclusively online. What a difference a few months make! Although there was some scepticism initially, the results in the past year have been overwhelmingly rewarding. Attendants and their organisations saved out on travel and accommodation costs, in addition to saving lots of time. Reactions have been positive as digital exams offers participants a lot more flexibility. We are currently looking to make the switch to digital examinations a permanent one.

What also changed was the auditing process. We found out not all auditing needs to take place on-site. At its core, auditing is about gathering objective evidence. Inspecting contracts, for example, is something that can very well be done digitally – and perhaps even better, considering developments in analytics technologies, which can detect deficiencies in mere seconds. However, on-site visits have certain unique benefits that cannot be quickly replaced by online possibilities. For the future, we foresee a hybrid model in which auditors will use a combination of both.