KPMG and MindBridge partner to bring AI technology to auditing
The British wing of KPMG has continued to enhance its artificial intelligence offering, with a new collaboration with MindBridge. The alliance will enable the Big Four firm to automate part of its auditing function.
Matt Campbell, Audit Chief Technology Officer at KPMG UK, commented, “Our alliance with MindBridge will bring increased levels of AI into KPMG Clara, focusing on harnessing the power of AI for enhanced risk assessment and improved audit quality. By combining KPMG’s in-depth industry experience and MindBridge’s advanced techniques we will digitally transform audits, providing increased quality and value to our audited entities and enhancing public trust.”
Released in 2017, KPMG Clara is the firm’s smart audit platform, powered by Microsoft Azure. It offers a fully integrated, scalable, cloud-based platform, enabling the use of enhanced audit methodology through a data-enabled workflow, accessible to clients 24/7. By embedding MindBridge’s advanced statistical, machine learning, and rules-based analytics technology into KPMG Clara, KPMG firms’ digital audit have the ability to analyse transactions on a more granular level, helping to increase transparency, visibility, and improving risk identification in digital audits.
Since its launch in 2017, MindBridge has grown into a leading financial risk discovery platform, helping auditors, accountants, and financial professionals to become more efficient and effective. Its AI industry expertise in particular has set it apart, seeing it recognised by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer in 2020, and Forbes Top 50 AI Firms to Watch in 2021, for its contribution to transforming the accounting and financial professions’ ability to analyse data.
Leyton Perris, CEO and President of MindBridge, said, "The alliance with KPMG speaks volumes to the step change we are leading in the modernisation of the audit industry. Our platform, integrated into KPMG Clara, provides a thorough analysis of clients’ financial data, identifying risks at a transactional level across complex businesses, setting the new standard for cohesive data science and AI-led auditing capabilities."
With growing public interest in the use of AI technologies, the alliance aims to act as a world-leading example of how to design, build and apply the powerful capability of AI in a safe and responsible manner. It also sees KPMG UK further its longstanding commitment to training and upskilling the next generation of auditors in innovation, data analytics and AI technology – also exemplified by its partnership with Blue J in 2022.
Cath Burnet, Head of Audit at KPMG UK, added, “Our auditors around the world will benefit from using MindBridge’s AI-embedded audit tools. They will spend less time on routine low risk transactions and instead will be able to focus on those transactions that are identified as higher risk. With this new risk-focused lens, our auditors will be able to obtain new insights into the company’s we audit to drive better analysis, better conversations, and better audit quality.”