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This study aims to identify the principal changes that digitalization has brought about in the internal audit functions (IAFs), focusing on the main characteristics that have been affected by this phenomenon.

The study follows a qualitative approach, involving the thematic analysis of semistructured interviews. A total of 22 professionals working in Italian-listed companies’ IAFs were interviewed. The framework of institutional theory was used to analyze the results.

The elements most affected by the digitalization of IAFs in Italy are: the skills required in IAFs, the relationship with external consultants and the types of activities performed by internal auditors (IArs). Nevertheless, the extent of the level digitalization within the IAFs of the companies analyzed appears to vary in accordance with the level of institutional pressures experienced by the organizations.

The study contributes to the literature on IA and digitalization by delineating the principal elements that are influenced by the digitalization process of IA. Moreover, it highlights how these elements develop and evolve as the level of digitalization of the IAF changes.

The differences between Big audit firms (BigN) and non BigN (nBigN) have been discussed at the international level from various points of view, focusing in particular on issues regarding the different quality of the services offered. This study aims to analyze the impact of digitalization on audit firms in the Italian context, seeking to understand how this phenomenon has influenced the quality differences already studied in the scientific literature.

The research adopts a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews. A total of 16 professionals working in the legal audit world were interviewed. The firms involved were PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Ernst and Young and Deloitte in the BigN category and BDO Italia Spa, MooreAxis Srl and Analisi Spa in the non Big class. The data collected via the interviews underwent thematic analysis. This analysis allowed the identification of three topics, on which the presentation of the results concentrated.

The findings of this research reveal that the digitalization of companies has widened the quality gap between Big and non BigN. BigN have been better able to exploit the benefits of the new digital technologies due to their greater investment capacity. At the same time, stakeholders’ expectations of the audit process in terms of quality have increased sharply, also in relation to nBigN.

This study’s main contribution is its analysis of the impact of digitalization on the audit quality of BigN and nBigN. This paper contributes to the existing literature by studying the consequences of digitalization on nBigN, a topic previously unexplored in the scientific literature (Manita et al., 2020), and the impact of new technologies in the context of audit firms in general.