Audit in the Context of the Digital Economy

This article reviews the most topical trends in the Russian market of audit services. The ongoing transformations are closely related to the use of information technology in audit within the framework of the state program, aimed at improving the quality of the audit industry as a whole. Nevertheless, there are definitely some positive trends in the reform of the Russian audit, the results of which can be assessed in the medium- and long-term perspective.The article analyzes the reasons for the need for harmonization of various areas of audit, including the ambiguity of interpretation of a number of terms, the meaning of important indicators, the order of the use of some methods, as well as the need to develop a new audit concept. The article examines the effect of digitalization of the economy on the accounting and auditing activities. The authors justify the predictions of inevitable changes in the audit, such as the loss of relevance of the audit standards on identifying distortions resulting from manual operations and the development of appropriate standards governing the actions of the auditor in the analysis of the provisions of the IFRS which stipulate for the use of professional judgement by the accountant. It is also proposed to develop a unified concept of audit in the conditions of digital economy, which should be based on the possibility of systematization of the auditor's actions aimed at identifying possible misstatements due to fraud. These principles provide the priority directions for further research in the audit sphere development in the conditions of digital economy.