Thomson Reuters Teams Up with Validis and Unveils Suite of AI-Powered Solutions For Auditors
Sep. 26, 2024
The first tool to debut in the suite, Audit Intelligence Analyze, employs Al and machine learning to enhance both audit quality and efficiency.
Thomson Reuters recently launched Thomson Reuters Audit Intelligence, a suite of artificial intelligence-powered, data-driven audit solutions designed to transform audit practices by reducing errors and enhancing confidence while enabling auditors to realize efficiency gains.
The first tool to debut in the suite, Audit Intelligence Analyze, employs Al and machine learning to simultaneously enhance both audit quality and efficiency. The solution focuses on high-risk areas by efficiently segmenting audit testing populations based on risk level and reducing the overall number of items to be tested, Thomson Reuters said in a media release. With advanced anomaly detection, Audit Intelligence Analyze integrates directly within existing workflows, identifying unusual items sometimes overlooked by auditors and automatically generating all necessary audit documentation.
Key benefits of Analyze include:
Increased efficiency: Automation of manual processes allows for smaller, risk-focused samples. This enables auditors to concentrate on high-risk areas, enhancing efficiency and reducing overall firm risk while improving audit quality. Time savings of 30 minutes to two hours are achieved in both client data provision and auditor sample selection and documentation.
Enhanced accuracy: Automated analysis using Al and machine learning increases confidence in audit results, integrating seamlessly into existing audit processes without requiring new methodologies.
Improved transparency: The solution is fully configurable, providing a clear and transparent process for selecting and understanding advanced risk identification techniques.
“Today’s announcement underscores our commitment to investing in and developing products that enable data-driven, Al-powered audits,” Dave Wyle, general manager of audit at Thomson Reuters, said in a statement. “We aim to provide these solutions swiftly to our customers, maximizing the benefits of Al in their audits, while supporting firms to implement solutions at a pace that works for their businesses. Our new solution, Analyze, can cut sample sizes by half, saving valuable time for auditors and their clients. This makes audits more efficient and allows auditors to focus on higher-risk areas, improving overall audit quality.”
Available now as part of an early adopter program, Audit Intelligence Analyze is expected to debut in the U.S. this fall, followed by the United Kingdom in 2025. The solution is integrated into both Thomson Reuters Cloud Audit Suite and directly into audit methodologies and workflows. It can also be used as a standalone by firms with their own methodologies.
The Audit Intelligence suite will integrate CoCounsel, Thomson Reuters’ professional-grade generative AI assistant, from next year, as part of the company’s broader vision to provide a GenAI assistant to every professional it serves. Auditors will be able to leverage CoCounsel alongside Thomson Reuters Guided Assurance to automate the completion of audit program steps and checklists.
Future additions to the suite will include Audit Intelligence Test, which automates substantive testing and verification by dynamically tracing accounting transactions to banking activity and supporting documentation, and Audit Intelligence Plan, which merges full data populations with technology-driven analytics to empower auditors’ planning and risk assessment processes.
To deliver customers advanced data-driven audit capabilities as part of Audit Intelligence, Thomson Reuters is partnering with on-demand accounting data provider Validis. The partnership includes the integration of Validis’ data ingestion capabilities directly into the Audit Intelligence suite. Integrated into audit workflows, this enables customers to seamlessly ingest client data to automate audit steps from within the solution, including trial balance, general ledger and subledger detail import and coding, risk analysis to optimize sample selection, and testing of details.
“We’re excited to collaborate with Thomson Reuters, a true market leader and innovator, to deliver audit-ready data through our cutting-edge ingestion capabilities,” said Jeff Gramlich, managing director at Validis. “This partnership provides auditors with the data breadth and granularity crucial for effective Al-driven auditing. By integrating our technology into the Audit Intelligence suite, we’re empowering auditors to conduct data-driven audits with enhanced efficiency and risk analysis, ultimately transforming the process to benefit both auditors and their clients.”
[CPA Practice Advisor]
