Top 7 Process Mining Audit Use Cases & Case Studies ['25]

The internal and external audit ensures reliability of financial reporting, compliance with the laws and regulations and effective and efficient execution of operations. Yet, it is challenging and costly to achieve constant auditing of organizations. Process mining helps auditors and audit departments inspect their operations, automate their reporting, and manage risks by assessing process deviations and compliance levels.

Explore top process mining audit use cases with relevant process mining case studies.

1. Continuously inspect your operations. 

Process mining allows businesses to conduct internal audits by visualizing and monitoring real-life operations. Companies can upload reference models, rules, or assumptions about expected processes for conformance checks. This enables comparison between the expected model and actual operations. As a result, firms assess compliance, reliability, lead times, and overall effectiveness of their outcomes.

Real-life example

ING (Netherlands) implemented process mining to achieve internal auditing. The organization achieved 100% transparency for all cases. The organization identified the most complicated and exceptional cases. ING verified the performance of internal controls such as authorization, compared designed processes with the entire operations and detected policy violations and unusual transactions. 

2. Forecast auditing times

External auditing companies apply process mining to automate their reporting services. By mapping the workflow in an auditing process, process mining indicates the tasks that require prioritization or the steps that do not need long time allocations. Thus, external auditors can leverage insights they gain via process mining to change their plans or strategies in executing a process.  

Real-life example

For example, Deutsche Post DHL Group in Germany integrated process mining into their audit process to discover areas to shorten the time spent on auditing. As a result, DHL found out that process mining reduced their auditing time by 25%. Thus, process mining enabled the company to detect unknown risks in processes.   

3. Discover the root causes faster

Process mining facilitates the identification of anomalies and unexpected events in a process via the root-cause analysis feature. Process mining software often includes root-cause analysis tools and algorithms to help users detect the underlying reasons for deviations and errors.  

Real-life example

An electric utility company, E.ON, implemented process mining to audit their purchase to pay processes. This case study enabled the firm to automatically discover actual processes and generate figures and risk indicators to compare with their real-life processes. Based on the comparison, the firm detected deviations and the root causes.   

4. Test and ensure the segregation of duties

Process mining facilitates testing IT controls by comparing the actual processes with designed control mechanisms and assessing their effectiveness. Process mining also helps businesses ensure segregation of duties by providing information about breaches and people involved in activities in a workflow. By doing so, any internal audit team can detect unauthorized access attempts.  

Real-life example

As a real-life example, Heineken, a retailer and e-commerce company in the Netherlands, used process mining to ensure segregation of duties. The company discovered 100% violation of the controls across their global operations with process mining. 

5. Mitigate risk

Businesses can use process mining to gain insights into risk assessment processes and identify high-risk areas. Some process mining tools offer predictive features and digital twin of an organization (DTOs), enabling users to run what-if simulations and make predictions based on historical process data. By estimating potential risk scenarios, business analysts can develop strategies and take actions to mitigate risks effectively.

Real-life example

Becton Dickinson (BD), a healthcare facility, service and equipment firm in the USA, benefited from process mining to audit the procure to pay and vendor master business processes. They identified all the transactions concerning risk assessment and their root causes. In turn, BD targeted lost cash discounts and detected the vendors leading to lost discounts to improve how they use their capital. 

6. Test financial control

Auditing financial departments require checking the control framework. Process mining ensures that the control framework corresponds to the reality by testing this control framework with a conformance check. 

Real-life example

 For instance, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) in the US leveraged process mining to detect transaction fraud. The firm analyzed the procurement processes by running process diagnostics in their SAP system. Leveraging process mining, the auditing firm compared the process with internal controls and business policies. As a result, the firm could detect fraud and other flaws at the earlier stages. 

7. Increase accuracy and transparency in financial reporting 

Auditors can implement process mining to map the money flow, similar to workflow visuals. Doing so helps auditors easily track transactions and detect highly frequent and valued transactions. Then, auditors can compare the maps with the financial reports to assess accuracy and transparency.

Real-life example

PGGM, a Dutch pension fund service provider, utilized process mining to audit several processes of different clients at once. Then, the insurance firm compared the results with assurance standard reports prepared for each customer specifically. In this case study, process mining helped create more efficient and better quality auditing than the traditional assurance standard reporting of the organization. 

While the benefits are evident, implementing process mining in auditing poses challenges:

Further Reading

To learn how process mining is used in compliance and other business sectors:

• Intelligent Automation in Audit: Benefits & 3 Steps to Implement
• 6 Ways Process Mining Enhances Compliance
• 33 Use Cases and Applications of Process Mining

To choose a vendor and leverage process mining, you can check out our data-driven list of software.

Check out our comprehensive and constantly updated process mining case studies list to learn more process mining audit real-life examples.

Also, feel free to contact us if you need more help to find the right vendor.