Audit is in transition. No longer a discipline focused on crunching through spreadsheets, audit is in the midst of historic transformation as firms come to terms with global changes.
Africa is no different. Firms across the continent are managing a new set of conditions that challenge established practices and cultures and, perhaps, the very shape of audit careers.
‘The challenges are not a signal to step back, but a call to lead differently’
Clensy Appavoo, chief executive of HLB Mauritius, says: ‘Those who are able to adapt to the new landscape, to the new structure, the new culture – they are going to succeed.’
The changes come at the same time as positive economic signs for Africa. The Economist Intelligence Unit says the continent will be the location for ‘most of the world’s fastest-growing economies’ this year and inward direct foreign investment will ‘edge higher’, across most jurisdictions. All but 10 African states are expected to post higher growth rates in 2025 than they did last year.
But with international and intra-regional trade ‘thriving’, there will be an extra burden on audit to provide the transparency and accountability necessary for good corporate governance and investor confidence.
Career rethink
The drivers of change in audit careers across Africa are big data, automation, artificial intelligence and digital assets, with growing regulatory pressures also making audit work increasingly complex. And that’s not all. A whole new area of audit work is opening up connected to sustainability and climate change, and new business models are presenting new audit challenges. At the same time firms are having to cope with a shortage of talent and changing attitudes to work.
Leaders are rethinking audit recruitment, training and rewards
These issues are driving adjustments inside firms and causing audit leaders from Port Louis to Johannesburg, Lagos and Addis Ababa to rethink how they recruit, train, shape and reward careers in audit.
Rochelle Murugan, head of audit in South Africa for Forvis Mazars, says the challenges facing auditors are ‘not a signal to step back, but a call to lead differently’.
She adds: ‘As leaders we have a responsibility to reshape the narrative of audit – not as a draining career, but as one filled with purpose and growth. That starts with building a culture where people feel supported, heard and valued.’
Key qualities
In recruitment, great importance is now placed on knowledge of data analysis and AI. New recruits are now a mix of the traditional intake and those with data science qualifications and training. It is all about coping with a changing work environment, one that is evolving at an unprecedented rate.
The in-demand quality now is the ‘adaptation quotient’
Appavoo says where once the key characteristics required were either a vertiginous IQ or emotional intelligence, the in-demand quality now is the ‘adaptation quotient’. Data experts will need to learn about audit, audit trainees will need to absorb expertise on data.
Appavoo adds: ‘When we onboard people now, we need people who have expert financial knowledge, but we also require people to have a background in data analytics, and AI at the tips of their fingers.’
‘Audit careers,’ Murugan says, ‘will become more dynamic, diverse and digitised. Those who combine traditional audit skills with AI fluency, business acumen and leadership courage will rise quickly.’
Elsewhere on the continent things are moving at a slower pace. This is dictated less by the desire of auditors than by the readiness of clients. In Ethiopia, Solomon Gizaw Kebede FCCA, chair and chief executive at HST, says his firm is investigating the use of AI but clients remain the key factor.
‘The big challenge we face,’ he says, ‘is that AI needs data. And most of our clients’ accounts are not automated.’ Most clients don’t even have an enterprise resource planning system, he adds.
Reputation
While technology may be a significant influence on careers, so too is audit’s reputation for complexity and long hours. Pelela Lamani, a senior HR manager with Forvis Mazars, based in Cape Town, says the appeal of audit is ‘shifting’ due to mental health issues at work and ‘professional intensity’.
Kebede says that those who do choose audit in Ethiopia are using it as springboard to careers elsewhere, creating a long-term retention issue. HST has responded by creating a dedicated training academy delivering ACCA qualifications. ‘Our salvation may be the academy,’ he says.
‘Young professionals want to work with someone, not just for someone’
Elsewhere, leadership is viewed as needing to change too. ‘The traditional, top-down style that many current leaders were exposed to as trainees no longer resonates with today’s youth,’ Lamani says. ‘Young professionals want to contribute meaningfully, collaborate, and feel empowered – not simply to work for someone, but to work with someone.’
Appavoo says that ‘underpayment and stress-heavy work’ have few attractions for Gen Z and millennials. Old hierarchies are therefore being challenged. ‘We no longer speak of partner, manager, senior or semi senior. That structure is going to change,’ he says.
Femi Wright FCCA, managing partner at WYZE, headquartered in Lagos, says hybrid working has had a significant influence on retention. ‘Talent will work for the organisation that best meets their social needs, not necessarily the firm that pays the highest,’ he points out.
Human skills
He adds that the idea of a 25-year career culminating in partner, with the necessary skills honed over decades, has been turned on its head. ‘Today it’s a different story,’ he says. ‘With the emergence of technology, machine learning and AI, tasks are now being done more quickly and accurately, thereby drastically reducing turnaround times of engagements. As a result, other softer skills are now being assessed to determine how quickly an employee can be promoted.’
There is an irony here: as AI becomes more important, so too do key human skills. Murugan says there is a further critical dimension to the soft skills shaping audit careers. A ‘deeper driver’, she argues, is the ‘trust deficit’, a phenomenon common to societies around the world.
‘Human skills are what differentiate a good auditor from a great one’
This will require new technology, that is for sure. ‘But we must also invest in human skills – judgment, ethics, critical thinking and communication,’ Murugan says.
‘This is what differentiates a good auditor from a great one. And as expectations around sustainability and transparency grow, I believe auditors will play a bigger role in safeguarding long-term trust.’
