AI can check thousands of records per day
On the morning of April 3, at the headquarters of the State Audit Office (SA), an online conference was held on the pilot application of artificial intelligence (AI) to auditing activities and some activities of the Sector. State Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan chaired the conference.
According to the 2025 Audit Plan, the State Audit will conduct a thematic audit on investment, application of information technology software, and information technology service rental activities to serve digital transformation in localities in the period of 2021-2024, in the provinces of Ha Nam, Quang Binh, Da Nang, Quang Ngai, Dien Bien, Phu Yen, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Nam Dinh, Dak Lak, Dong Nai, Binh Thuan, Binh Phuoc. Currently, the IT Department has piloted the implementation of automatic auditing applying AI for digital packages in these localities.
Mr. Pham Huy Thong - Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Information and Communications said that every year, a large number of digital packages are implemented by state agencies. Specifically, according to preliminary statistics from the National Bidding Network from September 2023 to February 2025, more than 1,000 digital packages have been posted. In 13 provinces under the audit on digital transformation theme alone, 168 digital packages were recorded.
The IT Department has used an automated system (BOT) to collect data from the National Bidding Network System. As a result, more than 1,000 digital packages have been collected from September 2023 to February 2025. In 13 provinces audited for digital transformation, 168 digital packages have been collected. Since then, the AI system has analyzed and discovered some important data such as: Number of bidding packages at risk of exceeding the norm: 30 packages (accounting for 17.86%); Total amount exceeding the norm of 8 billion VND (according to AI's assessment); Number of bidding packages that do not have enough information to determine: 62 bidding packages (accounting for 36.9%).
Through checking the bidding packages, some specific issues who have discovered such as: exceeding the norm compared to the regulations, for example 01 bidding package in Binh Phuoc province shows signs of exceeding norms. Unit price to adjust administrative documents, capital construction levels (3,980,000 VND/meter) and district level (3,480,000 VND/meter) higher than the accounting voucher unit price (1,180,000 VND/meter). After checking, the unit is applying norms according to specialized documents ...
The application of AI has created a breakthrough when solving a large amount of work in a short time. Specifically, the package under Quang Ngai province requires scanning 638,690 pages A4; 90.400 pages A3 (total of 729,090 pages) and entering 21,537,726 data fields within 60 days - the leader of the IT Department shared.
The IT Department analyzed that applying AI in auditing digital records is said to have many advantages, specifically: Increasing the speed of document testing, thereby checking all bidding packages instead of selecting samples. According to the assessment, if fully invested in infrastructure, AI can check thousands of records per day. The application of AI also helps to fully update legal regulations on the issue of inspection and unification in calculating norms. The dossier is not only compared with legal norms but also compared with other dossiers nationwide to make assessments.
To ensure continued AI training and testing the application of AI in auditing activities, the IT Department has made a number of proposals to apply AI in auditing digital packages.
Specifically, applying AI in auditing all digital packages according to the thematic audit outline: investment, application of information technology software, information technology service rental activities to serve digital transformation in localities in the period of 2021-2024.
However, Mr. Pham Huy Thong also commented that the application of AI in auditing digital packages still faces many difficulties and challenges, so the reporting results need to be considered before being discussed with audited subjects.
There needs to be coordination between audit teams and auditors to train AI Agent to " become smarter" as: explain the contents that AI Agent has pointed out; provide information that auditors discover but AI Agent does not discover; provide additional valid specialized regulations...
The operation of AI Agent consumes huge resources, so in the pilot process, without adequate infrastructure investment, there may not be enough resources for analyzing a large number of records and a large number of users.
Urgently deploy digital signatures, standardize data
At the Conference, Deputy State Auditor General Doan Anh Tho gave some notes: First, it is recommended that the IT Department coordinate with a number of units to directly pilot this work. During the pilot implementation, problems will arise that need to be resolved. Second, for the application of AI, there is currently no connection technology and infrastructure guaranteed, so this problem should be solved soon.
Agreeing with the opinion of Deputy State Auditor General Doan Anh Tho, Deputy State Auditor General Ha Thi My Dung also stated that the application of AI is an inevitable trend. However, this is a pilot phase, so it will be both working and drawing experience, so creating a forum to discuss and share problems or experiences together to improve it is extremely necessary.
Deputy State Auditor General Bui Quoc Dung also emphasized that this is a pilot phase, so during the implementation process, it will be both done and completed. In addition, the IT Department is ready to send human resources to coordinate with units to support and guide. Also answering questions from some units about whether the inspection and review results of AI and auditors may be different, Deputy State Auditor General Bui Quoc Dung reaffirmed: AI is only capable of detecting problems and making recommendations, each auditor will still be the one to review and re-examine all results.
Concluding the Conference, State Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan emphasized: In the current era of the 4.0 industrial revolution, the application of information technology and digital transformation is an inevitable trend. Therefore, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to auditing activities and in some activities of the Industry is something that needs to be done immediately.
State Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan also said that in implementation, it is necessary to be very cautious and take steps. In the initial pilot phase, AI is a support tool to detect violations, helping auditors save time and improve audit quality. But at present, the conclusion of the auditor, the auditing team, and the audit team is still the final conclusion.
The State Auditor General also requested the Department of Auditing Regime and Quality Control to preside over and coordinate with units in the Industry to immediately draft a process on piloting AI in auditing activities, clarifying the rights and obligations of organizations and individuals participating in this process. In addition, the State Auditor General also requested that units must complete the work of standardizing digital signatures and standardizing data this April, contributing significantly to the success of applying AI to auditing activities.
