Technology and Evidence in Non-Big 4 Assurance Engagements : Insights from the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study aims to understand how and to what extent non-Big 4 assurance professionals incorporated technologies into assurance engagements during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conduct a field study interviewing 30 assurance professionals in regional/national (i.e., non-Big 4) firms in the US. Informed by insights from technology acceptance models, our findings show that the pandemic played an accelerator role, prompting an open attitude toward and commitment to experimenting with technologies in non-Big 4 assurance engagements. This experimentation increased perceptions of the usefulness of technology in conducting more efficient engagements, given easier and faster evidence gathering. However, perceived technology barriers related to clients’ data security and reliability in evidence gathering limit the extent of pandemic catalyzed change. Likewise, assurance professionals perceive technology as useful in producing better quality evidence evaluation and are open to experimentation with new software yet are stymied by concerns regarding data integrity and naïve use of tools