Robotics process automation (RPA) has become an efficient way to automate labor-intensive and repetitive tasks across a variety of business functions, including finance and accounting, legal, HR, commercial loan operations and, increasingly, internal audit (IA).
Since many internal audit processes are manual and repetitive in nature (such as validating the removal of system access rights for terminated users or change management testing), requiring significant time to perform and remain consistent year-over-year, IA departments are beginning to realize that RPA can make their work increasingly efficient and improve audit coverage.
While RPA is widely acknowledged to give organizations the opportunity to achieve significant efficiency-driven cost savings, there are some areas within IA where it may not be the right solution given factors such as data privacy requirements or lack of sufficient business value being generated. However, implementing bots where thoughtful and appropriate can make a difference across many IA departments.
