Auditing in the AI Era: Moving from 'post-detection' to 'pre-prediction'

This is the information emphasized by Mr. Bui Quoc Dung - Deputy General Auditor of the State of Vietnam at the seminar "Auditing in the new era - Improving auditing capacity with AI" organized by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) on the morning of October 13 in Hanoi .

The event brought together leading domestic and international experts to look at the challenges and opportunities that AI brings, while affirming the indispensable role of humans in orienting technology to serve transparency and accountability.

The shift from "sampling" to "full data scanning"

In his opening speech, Mr. Bui Quoc Dung said that the auditing industry is facing a real revolution. The traditional auditing model based on representative sampling, although it has fulfilled its historical mission, always has potential risks and is difficult to keep up with the huge data flows that arise continuously in the digital age.

"At Vietnam Social Security, each year there are more than 200 million medical examinations related to insurance payments. Or at the Tax Department, there are nearly 150 million declarations submitted electronically. These are huge data pictures that if we continue to process manually, we will risk missing system risks," said Mr. Dung.

The advent of AI has created a turning point. Instead of analyzing “discrete pixels” through sampling, AI allows auditors to scan and analyze entire datasets, reducing subjective bias and increasing consistency.

Mr. Bui Quoc Dung - Deputy State Auditor General of Vietnam.

"AI does not replace auditors, but makes auditors stronger, more accurate, and more insightful. It helps us transform from 'post-audit' to 'smart, proactive, real-time audit'," Mr. Dung emphasized.

The State Audit of Vietnam has proactively taken the lead by building a big data platform, connecting with key ministries and branches, and deploying 6 AI application software in practice, from budget data analysis, risk assessment to public investment monitoring.

Biggest Challenge: Investing in People

From a global perspective, Ms. Ayla Majid - Global Chair of ACCA, agreed that AI is reshaping every field, especially finance and auditing. Major auditing firms in Vietnam such as EY, KPMG, Deloitte have been deploying AI platforms, and highly appreciated the fact that the State Audit of Vietnam is actively exploring this technology to increase transparency and detect fraud.

However, Ms. Ayla Majid also pointed out that the biggest challenge lies not in technology, but in people themselves.

“ACCA’s global research shows that while 85% of finance professionals believe AI will change their roles, less than a third currently have structured upskilling opportunities. This gap highlights the need to invest, not just in technology, but also in human capabilities,” said Ayla Majid.

According to the global chairman of ACCA, auditors of the new era do not necessarily need to be data scientists , but “must be able to collaborate with them”. They need to be equipped not only with technical skills but also with critical thinking and ethical reasoning to be able to ask important questions: What is the purpose of the AI model being built? Is the input data trustworthy? Who is responsible if something goes wrong?

The event attracted a large number of experts and businesses to participate.

“Vietnam has set an ambitious goal of becoming a regional hub for AI innovation by 2030. To achieve this, public sector audit must play a leadership role. By adopting global best practices, learning from international standards such as the UK and leveraging ACCA’s insights, Vietnam can ensure that AI adoption is both innovative and responsible,” said Ayla Majid.

According to the ACCA Global Chairman, State audit is uniquely positioned to lead this journey by responsibly integrating AI into the audit process and by developing frameworks to monitor their own AI systems.

During the discussion, the speakers shared their experiences in applying technology, big data and artificial intelligence to auditing activities. At the same time, they discussed the orientation of building a policy framework and strategy for developing public auditing in line with global trends and the characteristics of Vietnam...

Thu An

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/kiem-toan-trong-ky-nguyen-ai-chuyen-tu-phat-hien-sau-sang-du-bao-truoc/20251013104947312