THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CYBERSECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT AND AUDIT PERFORMANCE

There have been transformations in business processes, accounting practices, and organisational decision making due to the rising use of digital technology. Organisational systems are prone to sophisticated cyber security threats such as ransomware attacks, phishing attacks, malware, insider threats, and unauthorized access to systems despite these technological advancements that have helped boost efficiency. These pose serious threats to the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of organisational information that will affect accounting practices and auditing. By using a comprehensive examination of the literature, auditing standards, and cybersecurity frameworks used around the world, this study aims to examine the relationship between cybersecurity risk assessment and audit performance. Cybersecurity risk assessment improves audit planning, internal control assessment, audit quality, compliance with regulations, and overall audit performance, according to the study that uses descriptive research design and qualitative content analysis on secondary sources. To improve audit performance, the study finds that cybersecurity risk assessment is now an indispensable component of auditing and recommends continuous monitoring of cybersecurity, adoption of advanced technology, and collaboration between auditors and cybersecurity professionals.