Technological Stewards: How Partners Influence the Use of Technology-Based Audit Tools

SUMMARY We investigate how audit partners of nonglobal network firms (i.e., firms other than the “Global 7”) engage in institutional work to influence the use of technology-based audit tools (TBATs). Using an experiential survey, we gather partners' perceptions of factors that influence and impede TBATs and their efforts to shape TBAT practices. We find that partners' engagement-level institutional work centers on team and client collaboration for effective and efficient TBAT integration. Partners' firm-level work focuses on creating and maintaining a culture of TBAT utilization, including encouraging innovation, valorizing usage, supporting training and resources, and embedding use in firm practices. Partners also engage with various external parties to share knowledge and to help influence TBAT design and implementation. Competitive pressures and expectations, efficacy gains, and ambiguous guidance largely motivate these internal and external efforts. This study extends research on TBATs and documents how audit partners actively influence TBATs in practice. JEL Classifications: M40; M42.