Audit Digitalization, Do-Calculus, and Professional Judgment: A Practical Evidence From China

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has opened new challenges to traditional audit practices within the e-commerce industry. This chapter investigates the current state of audit professionals, who leverage audit data analysis technology to analyze client big data systems. It explores the future of audit methods by introducing intervention by the latest Do-Calculus concepts and proposing a potential connection between BDA and ADA. The authors employ qualitative analysis, combining in-depth interviews and content analysis, to explore how external auditors use skepticism to make necessary professional judgments. The authors' analysis reveals that auditors view AI technology as a tool and still rely on a combination of manual and computer-based audit methods to ensure the quality of their professional judgments and maintain the status quo. However, the challenge remains as audit practitioners must continually improve their AI capabilities in the new AI era.