Audit Transition In The Age Of Digital Revolution: Technology, Performance, Sustainability, And Transparency — Insights From Emerging Markets [before doctoral defense]

Kivonat, rövid leírás

The rapid advancement of digital technologies has fundamentally transformed the auditing profession, reshaping how audits are planned, executed, and communicated. Despite the increasing interest in digital auditing tools, there is little integrated evidence on the combined effects of audit technologies and improved disclosures on audit performance, sustainability, and transparency, especially in emerging economy settings. This dissertation addresses this gap by examining how digital transformation and enhanced audit disclosures reshape auditing practices and outcomes in an emerging economy, Ethiopia. The study examines the transition to auditing as a structural change, in which auditing is no longer about incremental improvements but about a fundamental redesign of methodologies, professional roles, and reporting practices, driven by technological innovation. The dissertation consists of a collection of related published papers. It adopts a multi-study design that combines a systematic literature review with empirical analyses grounded in established theoretical frameworks and quantitative methods. The empirical investigations focus on audit firms operating in an emerging market context and examine technology adoption, the impact of computer-assisted audit techniques (CAATs) on audit performance, and the role of audit technologies in supporting sustainability-related reporting and financial reporting quality. The thesis also discusses the enhancement of transparency and the identification of the financial distress risk by Key Audit Matters (KAMs). The results show that audit technologies improve the efficiency of audit, analytical capability, and risk assessment processes, and enhance auditors' ability to detect irregularities and support more informed professional judgment. At the same time, adoption is constrained by low technical capability, organizational resistance, and uneven institutional support, especially in emerging markets. Moreover, the study's findings indicate that technology-enabled auditing not only enhances audit performance but also contributes to broader organizational sustainability by improving governance quality and facilitating more reliable non-financial reporting. In addition, enhanced audit disclosures, especially KAM reporting, are important signals of financial risk and contribute to greater accountability in financial reporting and to improved stakeholders' understanding of audit judgments. In conclusion, this dissertation shows that audit transition in the digital age is a multi-dimensional phenomenon influenced by technological innovation, organizational readiness, regulatory environment, and stakeholder expectations. The dissertation adds to the literature on digital auditing by offering a holistic understanding of the interrelationships among technology, performance, sustainability, and transparency, and by outlining practical implications for auditors, policymakers, and professional bodies operating in a data-driven, evolving auditing landscape.