The buzz around generative AI (GenAI) is hard to ignore. But with headlines declaring it has the potential to revolutionize industries, what does the use of GenAI mean for the audit profession? Amidst the noise, let’s separate the hype from reality and explore how GenAI can genuinely enhance an auditor’s daily life and work.
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What is GenAI and what is its potential impact for audit professionals?
Before diving into specific use cases, let’s quickly define what GenAI is and what it does. Essentially, GenAI uses advanced algorithms to analyze data, identify patterns, and produce content, insights, or predictions.
In the world of auditing, GenAI can automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, assist with complex data analysis, and provide actionable insights that enable auditors to make better decisions and focus on providing clients with data-driven insights.
Hype vs reality: GenAI use cases for auditors
With its promise of immense benefits and time-savings, today’s auditors would do well to explore the opportunities of embracing GenAI. Let’s take a look at some specific use cases and how they might be able to transform your audit work for the better.
Automate document review
Audit engagements require reviewing contracts, financial statements, and other documentation — a frequently tedious and potentially error-prone process. GenAI tools can quickly extract key data, enabling auditors to free up time spent on oversampling.
For example, with Thomson Reuters Audit Intelligence Analyze, auditors can automate transaction analysis and enhance audit quality by focusing on high-risk areas. This improves audit quality by pulling out unusual transactions, providing the required documentation, and catching items that would normally be missed by humans.
Enhance risk assessment and anomaly detection
Identifying potential risks is at the core of auditing. GenAI can analyze vast amounts of financial data to uncover patterns, trends, and anomalies that might go unnoticed during manual reviews. This capability allows auditors to focus on investigating high-risk areas rather than combing through low-risk data.
For instance, Thomson Reuters Guided Assurance can help with key judgments, including risk identification and designing responses, by seeing how other firms have identified and responded to risks in similar engagements. With guided audit-tracking technology, you’ll have all the tools you need to perform efficient and profitable audits that comply with professional standards and pass peer review.
Stay compliant and keep pace with regulatory changes
Foundational to success in the world of audit is ensuring ongoing compliance amid a complex and ever-changing regulatory environment. Firms that employ a guided engagement process perform more efficient and profitable audits that comply with professional standards and pass peer review. With compliance standards and regulations in a near-constant state of change, for example, it can be challenging for auditors to stay up to date.
As the peer review process becomes more rigorous, auditors can benefit from AI-powered technology to enhance risk assessment quality and comply with evolving standards. AI-powered solutions can assist auditors in streamlining research processes, helping them quickly find relevant answers to complex tax and accounting questions. With advanced search capabilities and concept-based navigation, auditors can parse through vast amounts of regulatory information, ensuring they stay current with the latest requirements.
With an AI-powered tax research assistant, you can streamline your workflow, reduce research time, and enhance the overall quality and efficiency of your audits.
Unlock data-driven insights
With the ability to forecast financial outcomes, identify trends, and simulate scenarios, GenAI empowers auditors to deliver strategic guidance beyond the traditional audit report and provide clients with valuable, data-driven insights.
For example, utilizing AI-powered solutions can help to streamline numerous processes and workflows across the firm. Thomson Reuters Cloud Audit Suite is an end-to-end solution for more efficient audit and assurance engagements. By integrating risk assessment, documentation, and procedural linkage, you’ll not only streamline workflows but also ensure that risks and responses are systematically documented, reducing compliance deficiencies and improving overall audit efficiency.
Dispelling the myth around disruption
According to the Thomson Reuters Institute 2024 Audit Survey, most respondents agreed that their audit firms must evolve in their adoption of progressive technology like GenAI to keep pace with evolving peer review practices and audit standards. However, a delay in adoption most likely stems from a variety of challenges, including lack of resources, staff, or quite simply the time to integrate new technologies into their operations.
Additionally, many auditors are hesitant to adopt, thinking they must radically overhaul their firm and methodology to adopt these new technologies.
The reality is that GenAI does not need to be revolutionary or disrupt your practice. It can be incremental, evolving over time rather than happening all at once. That’s why it’s important to choose a technology provider with long-term stability who can partner with your audit firm to deliver the latest tools and technologies in a way that works best for you.
Apply the power of AI to your firm’s audit processes
With Thomson Reuters, adopting the latest AI-powered technology doesn’t mean you have to disrupt or replace your current audit workflow. We support you in a practical, guided way that aligns with your firm’s processes and complies with professional standards.
To learn more about how GenAI can transform your audit workflow, visit Thomson Reuters Audit Intelligence and discover the full suite of AI-powered audit solutions.