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Understanding the societal resistance to the uptake of AI and other emerging technologies in auditing firms: A South African perspective

Digital transformation has seen the uptake of emerging technologies at a rapid rate, now more than ever after the COVID-19 pandemic. Audit firms are no exception to this, yet many auditors and audit trainees still show a reluctance towards integrating technology into their work processes. Considerin...

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Main Author: Van Staden, Jayde
Other Authors: Singh-Sewpersadh, Navitha
Format: Thesis
Language:Eng
Published: College of Accounting 2024
Subjects:
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access_status_str Open Access
author Van Staden, Jayde
author2 Singh-Sewpersadh, Navitha
author_browse Singh-Sewpersadh, Navitha
Van Staden, Jayde
author_facet Singh-Sewpersadh, Navitha
Van Staden, Jayde
author_sort Van Staden, Jayde
collection Thesis
description Digital transformation has seen the uptake of emerging technologies at a rapid rate, now more than ever after the COVID-19 pandemic. Audit firms are no exception to this, yet many auditors and audit trainees still show a reluctance towards integrating technology into their work processes. Considering that almost 80% of all Fortune 500 accounting functions will be automated within the next decade, it is imperative to analyse the areas that South African firms can improve in, to gain a seat at the global table, enhance their competitive advantage and leverage technology to improve socioeconomic issues like unemployment that plague the South African economy. Using Qualtrics as a method of enquiry and descriptive analytics to determine the average mean for each category of question, 100 usable questionnaire responses from varying age groups, roles and firm sizes demonstrate that social factors, such as, the lack of support from senior management, as well as limited training and guidance relating to technology integration, are still holding them back. The resource gap between small and large firms seems to be increasing with the onset of emerging technologies altering the audit landscape, as small firms are constrained by financial and nonfinancial constraints such as costs and lack of dedicated IT personnel. Luckily, these constraints are not deterring small firms from seeing the benefits of audit integration, while large firms are pursuing it at a rapid rate.
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language Eng
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher College of Accounting
publisherStr College of Accounting
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40680 Understanding the societal resistance to the uptake of AI and other emerging technologies in auditing firms: A South African perspective Van Staden, Jayde Singh-Sewpersadh, Navitha Accounting Digital transformation has seen the uptake of emerging technologies at a rapid rate, now more than ever after the COVID-19 pandemic. Audit firms are no exception to this, yet many auditors and audit trainees still show a reluctance towards integrating technology into their work processes. Considering that almost 80% of all Fortune 500 accounting functions will be automated within the next decade, it is imperative to analyse the areas that South African firms can improve in, to gain a seat at the global table, enhance their competitive advantage and leverage technology to improve socioeconomic issues like unemployment that plague the South African economy. Using Qualtrics as a method of enquiry and descriptive analytics to determine the average mean for each category of question, 100 usable questionnaire responses from varying age groups, roles and firm sizes demonstrate that social factors, such as, the lack of support from senior management, as well as limited training and guidance relating to technology integration, are still holding them back. The resource gap between small and large firms seems to be increasing with the onset of emerging technologies altering the audit landscape, as small firms are constrained by financial and nonfinancial constraints such as costs and lack of dedicated IT personnel. Luckily, these constraints are not deterring small firms from seeing the benefits of audit integration, while large firms are pursuing it at a rapid rate. 2024-11-05T10:24:34Z 2024-11-05T10:24:34Z 2024 2024-07-09T13:17:37Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MCom http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40680 Eng application/pdf College of Accounting Faculty of Commerce
spellingShingle Accounting
Van Staden, Jayde
Understanding the societal resistance to the uptake of AI and other emerging technologies in auditing firms: A South African perspective
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Understanding the societal resistance to the uptake of AI and other emerging technologies in auditing firms: A South African perspective
title_full Understanding the societal resistance to the uptake of AI and other emerging technologies in auditing firms: A South African perspective
title_fullStr Understanding the societal resistance to the uptake of AI and other emerging technologies in auditing firms: A South African perspective
title_full_unstemmed Understanding the societal resistance to the uptake of AI and other emerging technologies in auditing firms: A South African perspective
title_short Understanding the societal resistance to the uptake of AI and other emerging technologies in auditing firms: A South African perspective
title_sort understanding the societal resistance to the uptake of ai and other emerging technologies in auditing firms a south african perspective
topic Accounting
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40680
work_keys_str_mv AT vanstadenjayde understandingthesocietalresistancetotheuptakeofaiandotheremergingtechnologiesinauditingfirmsasouthafricanperspective