Jared Theis Zettabyte. No, it’s not a made up word or hyperbolic number. It’s a trillion gigabytes or as Cisco’s Taru Khurana1 put it: “If each gigabyte in a zettabyte were a brick, 258 Great Walls of China could be built.” And that’s just one zettabyte. Research firm IDC predicts total data in the world will be 175 zettabytes by 2025, compared to just half a zettabyte in 2009. There is an abundance of data and companies have access to similar, if not identical, data on consumers, businesses, and economies. But the value comes not from having access to the data, but actually collecting, transforming and analyzing it to deliver insights that bring real value. For auditors, it’s a similar story. There is a potential advantage for auditors who are able to harness technology to collect, transform and analyze data, while enhancing audit quality. • • •
How can technology enable a data-centric understanding of companies, industries and macroeconomic risks? How can technology drive sharper data analysis for more thoughtful risk assessment? Can information be analyzed and vouched more easily and quickly in testing?
Additionally, firms want new hires to come equipped with strong technology skills and a global perspective. They understand the Future of Audit is all about humans enabled by technology to maintain the public trust.
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The Washington CPA Spring 2020
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