Abstract

The digital transformation of enterprises is the key to conforming to the trends of the times and realizing reform and innovation. Digital transformation will change the enterprise risk and information environment, and also bring challenges to the audit business. This study takes China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2021 as a sample, starting from the perspective of audit delay, and empirically tests the impact of enterprise digital transformation on audit efficiency. The results of the study found that the higher the degree of enterprise digital transformation, the more serious the audit delay and the lower the audit efficiency. Further research found that in non-high-tech enterprises and when audited by non-international “Big 4” and accounting firms without digital expertise, the effect of enterprise digital transformation on reducing audit efficiency is more obvious. This study expands the research field of enterprise digital transformation and auditing and provides empirical evidence for improving auditing efficiency.

Introduction

In recent years, the digital economy has developed rapidly and continuously integrated with the real economy, becoming a new driving force for global economic growth. International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that global investment in digital transformation will grow at a compound rate of 17.1 % per year, with investments expected to reach $2.3 trillion in 2023. According to the survey, as of the end of 2022, the scale of China’s digital economy has reached RMB 50.2 trillion, a nominal increase of 11.3 % year-on-year, accounting for 41.5 % of the total GDP.1 Under the wave of the digital economy, most companies choose to actively influx, and some companies say they “will not transfer”, “don’t want to transfer” or “don’t dare to transfer” because of their weak capabilities, high transformation costs, and long “painful period” of transformation (Liu et al., 2021). Accenture pointed out in the “۲۰۲۲ China Enterprise Digital Transformation Index” that only 17 % of Chinese enterprises have achieved significant results in digital transformation.2 This indicates that most Chinese enterprises are still in the early stages of digital transformation, and the value brought by the transformation has not yet been fully reflected. Scholars at home and abroad have also done a lot of research on the impact of enterprise digital transformation, but the current research has not reached a consistent conclusion about whether digital transformation brings more positive or negative impacts to enterprises. Some scholars believe that digital transformation improves the accuracy and accessibility of enterprise financial data (Warren Jr et al., 2015), and enhances enterprise performance and value; Some scholars also believe that digital transformation makes enterprise business more complex, increases the uncertainty of enterprise recognition, measurement and reporting (Appelbaum et al., 2017), and brings more risks and challenges. Therefore, exploring how digital transformation will affect enterprises and their stakeholders is crucial to promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the digital economy.

Conclusions

This study takes audit delay as a measurement variable of audit efficiency and takes A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2011 to 2021 as samples to study the impact of enterprise digital transformation on audit efficiency. The results show that enterprise digital transformation will aggravate audit delay and reduce audit efficiency. On the one hand, it may be that most enterprises in China are still in the primary stage of digital transformation, and the challenges they meet in the process of transformation have not been overcome promptly. On the other hand, the digital competence of accounting firms may not be enough. Faced with the challenges of new technology and data complexity brought by the digital transformation of enterprises, auditors cannot complete the audit work efficiently and orderly. This study also further analyzes the moderating effect of accounting firm competence and high-tech enterprises in the study of digital transformation on audit efficiency. The research results show that when the transformation enterprises are non-high-tech enterprises and the audit units are “non-Big 4” and “accounting firms without digital expertise”, the effect of enterprise digital transformation on reducing audit efficiency is more obvious. This also shows that the mature degree of digital transformation of enterprises and the high competence of accounting firms can alleviate the negative effects of digital transformation of enterprises on audit efficiency.