Big Accounting Firms Fail To Track AI Impact on Audit Quality, Says Regulator

The six largest UK accounting firms do not formally monitor how automated tools and AI impact the quality of their audits, the regulator has found, even as the technology becomes embedded across the sector. From a report: The Financial Reporting Council on Thursday published its first AI guide alongside a review of the way firms were using automated tools and technology, which found "no formal monitoring performed by the firms to quantify the audit quality impact of using" them. The watchdog found that audit teams in the Big Four firms -- Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC -- as well as BDO and Forvis Mazars were increasingly using this technology to perform risk assessments and obtain evidence. But it said that the firms primarily monitored the tools to understand how many teams were using them for audits, "typically for licensing purposes," rather than to assess their impact on audit quality. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Jun 27, 2025 - 06:10

Big Accounting Firms Fail To Track AI Impact on Audit Quality, Says Regulator

The six largest UK accounting firms do not formally monitor how automated tools and AI impact the quality of their audits, the regulator has found, even as the technology becomes embedded across the sector. From a report: The Financial Reporting Council on Thursday published its first AI guide alongside a review of the way firms were using automated tools and technology, which found "no formal monitoring performed by the firms to quantify the audit quality impact of using" them. The watchdog found that audit teams in the Big Four firms -- Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC -- as well as BDO and Forvis Mazars were increasingly using this technology to perform risk assessments and obtain evidence. But it said that the firms primarily monitored the tools to understand how many teams were using them for audits, "typically for licensing purposes," rather than to assess their impact on audit quality.