| Summary: | As a result of technological improvements, the efficiency of the audit industry increased greatly in the 1950’s. Since then, technological development has increased significantly. The industry is currently undergoing a digitalization process, similar to that already experienced by the society. The audit agencies researched in this study are striving to replace paper-based audits and to be completely digitalized, by using digital auditing tools throughout the entire audit process. Prior research, regarding the digitalization of the audit process, has focused on the advantages or the disadvantages. How the auditors in practice identify and handle digital risks is, however, lacking in this earlier research. The purpose of this study is to understand how auditors identify and handle the risks that digitalization entails in the gathering and use of digital audit evidence. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, the gathering of empirical evidence has been based on a qualitative method. Twelve respondents, nine of whom are auditors and three audit associates, were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Conclusions generated by this study are that IT skills, experience, industry knowledge and the understanding of the company audited are the fundamental factors affecting the auditor's ability to identify and handle digital risks. Furthermore, the risks due to digitalization have neither increased nor become of greater importance than previously, rather the opposite. The advantages resulting from the digitalization of the audit process outweigh the disadvantages. Overall, the digitalization affects the auditor's ability to comment on a company's financial reports and management in a positive manner.
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