Audit innovation

What EY can do for you

Innovation drives both EY clients’ and our own services. At EY, we monitor emerging technologies to embrace their benefits, understand the new risks they bring, and better anticipate and respond to the evolving needs of business, regulators and investors.

We innovate and invest in innovation because we are committed to building a better working world and providing the capital markets with greater confidence, better business perspective and enhanced transparency.

Some of the areas we’re focusing on include:

Artificial intelligence (AI)

The exponential increase in the quantity and quality of available data has opened new possibilities for how data can be used by our audit teams.

Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques — most prominently machine learning — allow us to look at data using advanced pattern recognition and harness this functionality to digitally assist our auditors by:

• Analyzing and extracting data from unstructured data, such as contracts, invoices, and images, to gain further audit evidence
• Analyzing large sets of data to help identify, assess and respond to the risks of material misstatement due to fraud

For EY clients, this means:

1. Greater confidence and trust: By working with AI tools, the chances of human error are reduced. AI tools provide consistent reasoning with high precision, objectivity and accuracy.
2. Increased quality: Quality is increased by assisting the analysis of larger samples.
3. Increased value: AI allows us to shape our approach, optimize our time and provide better service to our clients.

We are embedding emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence technology across our end-to-end audit process. This includes the application of AI to the area of business document reading and interpretation. This will allow us to expand the scope of the number of documents we analyze, and increases speed and accuracy.

Blockchain

Listed as one of the technologies set to revolutionize how business is carried out across a range of industries, blockchain has the potential to impact significantly the finance and accounting world. 

At EY, we are investing in pilot projects to meet and anticipate new market demands in light of the increasing adoption of blockchain. One example includes developing a proprietary EY Blockchain Analyzer to support our audit approach and provide clients with increased transparency on their blockchain transactions. 

Through these projects, we are preparing to address new demands and client needs linked to the adoption of blockchain.

Automation

Enhanced automation has been a key component in the development of EY Canvas and EY Helix, and now allows us to improve audit efficiency.