The golden age of automation has dawned, bringing with it possibilities for integrating robotic process automation (RPA) into the third line of defense, also known as Internal Audit. Internal Audit departments of all sorts have already commenced their voyage toward the future of automation by incorporating predictive models, RPA, and cognitive intelligence into their current use of conventional analytics. Along with greater risk intelligence, this results in quality improvements, risk reductions, and improved efficiency. Since automation technologies are developing expeditiously and early adopters are proving their efficacy, internal audit needs to evaluate and prioritize automation possibilities and take significant efforts to become ready for strategic, progressive rollout.

Internal Audit Process: Why Automate It? 

Internal audit is a time-consuming, redundant procedure that is prone to reporting inaccuracies and erroneous data representation. These processes that are not coordinated between the department and the other departments of the business constitute a serious danger to their efficient operation. To achieve the necessary accuracy throughout the entire auditing process, intensive data collection and routine follow-up on the action items also present a challenge.  The internal audit process of a business is taken into account by RPA, which also fundamentally provides ways that auditors may record, track, and monitor the quantitative and qualitative processes of the organization. To automate business and knowledge operations, intelligence automation primarily uses the principles of data analytics, cognitive, and artificial intelligence. Based on organizational requirements, the most effective automation strategy is determined. Specific automation technology is employed to address the various auditing requirements, and a risk-based audit plan is put into place with a clear, well-defined scope, guiding the business toward greater efficiency, effectiveness, and quality while making better use of the most valuable resource of all—intelligent, highly knowledgeable human talent.

Also read: Applications of Robotic Process Automation

Long burdened by manual procedures and laborious jobs, internal audit departments can now delegate a large portion of the “heavy labor” to digital workers who don’t mind working long hours and performing the same duties again and who, if effectively handled, make no errors. Throughout the whole audit life cycle, involving risk assessments, audit preparation, fieldwork, and reporting, internal audits can make extensive use of automation technologies. Here are a few instances of how investing in automation technology can pay off by enhancing the efficacy and productivity of audit operations and giving the company more chances to grow:

Limited Resources? Not Any More!

Automation can reduce workload for teams by taking over manual tasks, enabling staff to concentrate on higher-value tasks like quality assurance reviews, exception management, process improvement, and interpersonal interactions. The organization will thus be more positioned to keep up with business developments and their impact as a result of this transition toward value-added activities. 

Higher Customer Satisfaction

Both those conducting audits and the subjects of audits may find them to be taxing. During the audit process, several regulations and compliance criteria must be meticulously followed. It takes a lot of time to meet this criterion using manual processes. Therefore, implementing an RPA in audit software to automate the operations is advantageous. RPA in audit and compliance can aid in streamlining and improving the procedure, increasing the satisfaction of all parties involved. 

Data Collection And Cleaning For Analytics

RPA can standardize data, offer bespoke analytics, and automate validation, duplication, and completeness checks. The time required for planning and data collection is therefore freed up for internal audit. By offering a better degree of control and monitoring throughout the data entering the process, robotic process automation in audits can also assist verify data accuracy. Additionally, RPA can be used to check inputted data against predefined standards and rules (such as business policy, legal requirements, etc.) and highlight any flaws that need to be fixed before proceeding with the analysis. 

Risk Assessment 

An internal audit can leverage RPA to assist in doing preliminary risk assessments when taking into account new opportunities or business procedures. RPA can promptly gather and evaluate data relevant to the process under consideration, giving a thorough picture of the possible risks involved. It can then be used to assist in choosing whether or not to take advantage of the opportunity or adopt a new process. This reduces time spent and gives a more accurate view of control efficacy. 

Satisfy Compliance Requirements

RPA can be utilized to support enterprises in maintaining regulatory compliance. This can involve activities including keeping track of compliance concerns, producing reporting on compliance developments, and updating compliance documentation. RPA can also be used to provide compliance-related information to the right parties automatically.

Any organization’s internal audit department is crucial to the operation of the business since it has the power to make or ruin a company. Sound corporate strategy dictates developing an intelligent automation strategy for that firm is of paramount importance By raising the caliber and consistency of the audit procedures, automation of the processes involved in the audit process complements human talents that have the ability to elevate a company to par excellence. An organization’s internal audit division frequently needs manual operations carried out precisely step by step. As a result, internal audit teams have noticed a growing demand to automate their operations in order to increase productivity, reduce possible risks, and improve accuracy. Needless to say, it is imperative in today’s world to adopt automation tools in internal audits.

You can also sneak a peek at our blog on the Difference between RPA and Intelligent Automation

Why Choose Intone For Your RPA Needs?

Robotic process automation (RPA) has emerged in recent years as one of the key strategies for helping firms increase productivity for long-term success. RPA often acts as an introduction to the comfort and quickness that automation can bring to a firm, even if it is ultimately just one component of the current business technology puzzle. Your team will be able to do more each day if rules-based software robots are managing repetitive activities that are usually hampered by human mistakes. However, understanding where and how to use it is essential to getting the intended outcomes. Intone is dedicated to providing you with the finest RPA service available that is suited to your requirements and tastes.

This is what we offer:

  • State-of-the-art front-end RPA, where we ensure that your customers have a superior experience and that they start to see your brand in a whole new light. 
  • Our back-end RPA can easily automate the most mundane, repetitive, and labor-intensive tasks to free up your employees to help them focus on higher-order tasks. 
  • Intone offers multilingual solutions as compared to the market standard of English only. 
  • Our advanced NLP understands customer requests and responds in a conversational manner with a minimum accuracy of 85%.
  • Intone offers efficient omnichannel support through easy integration with commonly used customer support channels like Gmail, Outlook 365, etc.
  • Intone offers top-of-the-line enterprise-grade security with a minimum of 256-bit encryption at both transmission and rest.
  • Intone’s RPA will anonymize your data to ensure greater protection of sensitive data and information.
  • Intone offers end-to-end hyper-automation with our low-code engine.

Check out how Intone can help you streamline your manual business process with Robotic Process Automation solutions.

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay