The future of audit lies at a point where assurance and advisory services converge, according to CPA.com president and CEO Erik Asgeirsson -- with technology driving the two together.

“It’s all about assurance and advisory,” Asgeirsson told attendees at the Digital CPA Conference in Washington, D.C., last week. “It’s about delivering trust plus insights.”

In his keynote, Asgeirsson described a new audit model that leverages the cloud to use automation, artificial intelligence and even blockchain to improve the audit and deliver more value to clients and markets.

“An AI-driven audit is going to provide greater assurance around the integrity of data,” he continued. “It’s going to provide great value to the capital markets.”

The cloud, and the ability to share information instantly and accurately that it provides, is fundamental to much of this change. “You couldn’t have cloud auditing until you had cloud accounting,” he noted, and reminded attendees, ”We’re only in the third inning in the cloud accounting transformation.”

More power for accountants

In many ways, the technology has only just begun to enable the kind of convergence Asgeirsson described.

“We’ve just reached the point where the technology is allowing us to fully realize the CAS vision,” said Aaron Harris, senior vice president and head of engineering and technology at Sage Intacct, who joined Asgeirrson on stage at the conference. “CFOs and accountants have been held back by periodic repetitive tasks. All of that is not giving them enough time to work on what we got into the profession for in the first place – helping organizations to thrive.”

What’s more, there’s now an unprecedented amount of raw horsepower being applied to handling basic tasks and freeing up accountants and finance professionals. “The idea of unlimited computing power is driving a lot of what we’re doing in technology,” he continued. “Of the 10,000 CPUs we have running, only about 30 percent are devoted to humans – the rest are dedicated to automation.”

All of that has allowed technology to develop systems that do more than just handle the basics. “The last generation of finance products was about making sure you had enough information to work on,” Harris said. “Now we want systems to optimize performance – to find the answers you need. The future is about what you do in situations where you don’t know what questions to ask. That will give us the opportunity to look to the future, to identify risks and opportunities, and to help leadership prepare for those.”

These kinds of technology-enabled solutions will offer firms the ability to move many of their services up the value chain.

“Audit can become a strategic value-add for organizations, whereas today it’s mostly viewed as something I have to do for compliance,” Harris concluded. “The $40 billion the Big Four make on audits will become $100 billion in added-value audits.”

The AI-driven audit

Focusing on audits, Asgeirsson described a new model where data flows automatically through the cloud into an advanced platform for an AI- and data-driven audit.

To create that platform, the American Institute of CPAs has raised money from the top tier of accounting firms and partnered with audit software developer CaseWare to build a Dynamic Audit Solution.

The DAS will take advantage of enhanced data flows, the use of artificial intelligence to make predictions, and improved methods for continuous auditing to make audits more efficient, and more valuable to clients.

“We don’t want to automate the audit to the point where people aren’t involved,” said Karen deSouza, head of product at CaseWare, who joined Asgeirsson during his keynote. “We want AI to point out risks and help.”

With the vast amounts of data currently available, AI systems can learn to identify data and how it’s usually classified.

“We’re looking at using AI to tag client information as it flows into the audit system – that will save a lot of time and improve quality,” said deSouza, “but risk is where AI can really deliver value – learning from all transactions where the risk lies.”

By tagging data appropriately, recognizing patterns in data and comparing them to millions of previous situations, smart audit systems should be able autopopulate engagement documentation and identify areas of risk for human auditors to concentrate on.

“The AI-driven audit should improve audit efficiency and improve the quality and the value we bring back to the client,” said deSouza.

For accountants who embrace these technologies and focus on bringing them to their niches, there are tremendous opportunities, Asgeirsson told conference attendees.

“It’s never been more important to specialize and to deliver insights, value and trust,” he said.

From audits to firm structure, accountants need to start disrupting most aspects of their profession, or they risk being left behind, according to American Institute of CPAs president and CEO Barry Melancon.

In a keynote address on the state of the accounting profession at last week’s Digital CPA conference in Washington, D.C., Melancon told attendees, “Just because we are where we are and we’ve earned a great position, we can’t stop. You can’t hit the pause button.”

“Being in a great position doesn’t mean we get to be here forever,” he continued. “Even with audit, even though it’s written into all state laws that only CPAs can perform them – that doesn’t have to be forever.

Melancon cited the example of Sears – a company that was both highly innovative (it pioneered mail-order, for instance, and more recently helped create an early Internet service, Prodidy) and a cornerstone of the economy – that failed to keep up the pace.

“They were on the leading edge, but for some reason, in the span of a moment, they missed, they stopped – and they paid the ultimate business price,” he said.

To underscore his point, Melancon noted that since 2000, 41 percent of consumer-centric companies in the S&P 500 have been acquired or gone out of business – while over the same period, 39 percent of members of the AICPA’s Major Firms Group were either merged or acquired out of existence.

Given the pace of change in technology and the broader economy, he explained, it is incumbent on the profession to take up the hard work of disrupting itself based on the profession’s premiere asset: trust.

“We have an incredibly important role in providing trust – we as a society don’t trust anything. We don’t trust our government to a large degree, we don’t trust our media, we don’t trust big companies, we don’t trust religious leaders, we don’t trust the Internet,” he explained. “Accountants have the highest trust factor – right now, today, in today’s fast-paced world, we have earned and enjoy trust we can build on to help the world and to help our clients sort things out. That’s our opportunity – but that means we have to take some risks.”

Risks and opportunities

The profession has already begun exploring new areas, particularly in audit, Melancon noted, and those explorations are themselves pointing to further opportunities.

“Today, tens of thousands of SOC reports are being issued, and we’re looking at building out from that experience to create new services – on smart contracts, for instance, or blockchain,” he said. “So when someone says, ‘My blockchain service does x,’ people will want attestation that it really does.”

To go further, though, will require the profession to create and embrace change.

“When we look at our core services, like auditing – do we have the guts to disrupt those? I think we do,” he said, citing the OnPoint PCR tool created by the AICPA and CPA.com, which puts artificial intelligence and cutting-edge technology at the disposal of smaller firms.

The AICPA has also raised $45 million from the top 80 firms below the Big Four to create a Dynamic Audit Solution aimed at applying the technologies of the future to this core service of the profession. “We went to the next 80 firms and said, ‘Do you want to do something in a new way? And look at it in a big new way?’” Melancon explained.

Audit and beyond

While building its own tech will help the profession manage its own disruption, that isn’t all it will have to do, Melancon warned.

“Reimagining the audit is going to require us to rethink our competencies. We’re going to have to have a thick skin and commit to this change,” he said. “You don’t get permission to evolve what an audit is if you’re not delivering right now – so we’ve had a focus on improving audit quality for the next five years. We have to have that quality to experiment going forward.”

That quality, tied to the profession’s trusted advisor status, should open plenty of doors in the future. “We believe regulators and the consuming public will come to require third-party attestation on whether companies are doing the right thing in cybersecurity,” Melancon offered as an example. “Don’t we as a profession have an obligation to think about how we attest to a broad range of things – what about sustainability, integrated reporting and so on?”

10 years down the road

Looking beyond the near-term, Melancon extrapolated on current trends, like the fact that among the Top 100 Firms (excluding the Big Four), only about 20 percent of service personnel are CPAs.

“How do we actually define ‘CPA?’” he asked, positing a world where changing client needs and demographics lead more and more firms to hire non-CPAs, leading to firms that are CPA-led, as opposed to having CPAs all through the staff.

He also envisioned major changes in the core skill sets of the profession. “In a decade, there won’t be a need for us to have deep learning of an accounting standard,” he said. “We’ll have bots for that. We’ll need higher-level skills.”

Perhaps most important, he thinks accountants will need to be ready to radically reimagine the field.

“In the early days of the profession, tax wasn’t part of our work. It was only after the income tax amendment that we saw the opportunity to bring it in as a core part of our profession. Audit wasn’t either, but in the 1930s, we took that in as a core part of our profession,” he explained. “Our challenge is to see the new opportunities, and to take those on. If we don’t do that, we aren’t guaranteed our space. But if we take them on, our opportunities are endless.”

CPAs are Well-Positioned to Deliver a Strategic Blend of Compliance and Advisory Services

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (Dec. 6, 2018) – Technology is transforming all major practice areas within the accounting profession, and CPAs will increasingly adopt a more strategic role in delivering trusted information and insights, the chief executive of CPA.com said.

"Our priority is to help build an ecosystem that allows CPA firms to succeed in delivering both the trust driven by compliance work and insights from emerging advisory services," said Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com, in a keynote speech at this week's 2018 Digital CPA Conference. "This has been an effective approach with client accounting advisory services, and the same lessons are now being applied to tax, audit and assurance services."

Asgeirsson went on to speak about how the cloud, artificial intelligence and digitized data are reshaping practice areas:

• Client accounting advisory services (CAS) – Virtual CFO and controller services are becoming firmly established and firms are embracing best practices. The focus is now on automating data inputs, building scale and deepening advisory insights with high-value business intelligence. As a critical next step, CPA.com is helping to define, develop and standardize metrics that will allow CAS practices to measure performance and benchmark against peers.
• Audit and assurance services – “We’re seeing the convergence of accounting and auditing services,” Asgeirsson said. “You can’t have cloud auditing, with the power of artificial intelligence-driven efficiency and insight, without cloud accounting.” On the assurance side, CPA.com, AICPA and CaseWare International this year launched OnPoint PCR, a dynamic, smart solution for preparation, compilation and review engagements. In a major commitment to innovation, the AICPA, CPA.com, CaseWare and a consortium of leading CPA firms are collaborating on the development of a Dynamic Audit Solution, elements of which would benefit all audit practices.
• Tax – Driven by client demand, CPA practices are moving beyond tax compliance to integrated planning services that incorporate retirement and other financial and life planning services.

The AICPA and CPA.com are planning expanded training and curriculum to support the continued extension into advisory services. CPA.com also continues to play a key role in fostering innovation through thought-leading initiatives, such as its executive roundtables – including one at this fall’s World Congress of Accountants in Sydney, Australia – with key accounting technology providers, firm leaders and influencers from within the profession. The company also oversees, in collaboration with the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, a startup accelerator focused on early-stage companies in fintech and educational technology. The selection process begins this month for the accelerator’s second class of promising ventures, who will gain access to and insight from senior leaders of the AICPA and CPA.com, as well as highly regarded advisors from the profession.

The company announced that next year’s Digital CPA conference will be held in Seattle from Dec. 9-11, 2019.

About CPA.com

CPA.com brings innovative solutions to the accounting profession, either in partnership with leading providers or directly through its own development. The company has established itself as a thought leader on emerging technologies and as the trusted business advisor to practitioners in the United States, with a growing global focus.

Our company’s core mission is to drive the transformation of practice areas, advance the technology ecosystem for the profession, and lead technology research and innovation efforts for practitioners.

A subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, the company is also part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the world’s most influential organization representing the profession. For more information, visit CPA.com.

Ease of Use, Efficiency and Confidence in Proper Documentation Seen as Key Elements of Preparation, Compilation and Review Engagement Solution

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (Dec. 4, 2018)

– Early-adopter CPA firms are confirming the effectiveness and value of OnPoint PCR, a smart, cloud-based solution that transforms how CPA firms conduct preparation, compilation and review engagements.

Launched this past summer, OnPoint PCR was jointly developed by CPA.com, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and CaseWare International Inc. By integrating content and methodology into a leading cloud platform, OnPoint PCR allows firms to enhance engagement quality while being more productive.

The dynamic solution eliminates unnecessary steps and offers tailored, intelligent guidance for everything from drafting a customized engagement letter and report to documenting specific procedures.

"I have been using super-long checklists for years, and it is a lot of work to pare down those guides into what's relevant for my practice," said Jennifer J. Mansfield, CPA, a sole practitioner based in Tucson, Ariz. "That’s why the minute I saw the OnPoint PCR solution, I knew it would be a game-changer for me."

The solution takes aim at the pain points where firms are struggling the most:

• Guidance is built in to enhance practitioners’ professional judgment and help them avoid common pitfalls, giving them the tools and confidence to get their work done.
• OnPoint PCR’s checklists are active and dynamic, working behind the scenes as practitioners move through the process, showing only relevant procedures and requirements based upon the information provided.
• Requests for client information are embedded directly into the solution, making it simple to get the right data at the right time as part of a natural workflow.
• Integrated content and methodology reduces anxiety for firms that recognize they are overworking engagements but still fear being non-compliant.
• Direct imports of popular online client accounting products, such as QuickBooks and Xero, give firms access to what they need without requiring clients to export trial balance data in advance.

"The first thing that caught my eye with OnPoint PCR is how you can fill out the engagement acceptance form, and it completes your engagement letter and representation letter for you automatically," said Amanda VanKleeck, CPA, quality control director of Varney & Associates, CPAs, LLC, of Manhattan, Kan. "It takes the extra step out of manually reconciling the checklists and the letters. You really put in less effort to get the work done."

Content is automatically updated as standards evolve, giving practitioners more confidence and peace of mind that they are in compliance. "Firms often talk to me about the anxiety of keeping up with standards," said Carl Peterson, the AICPA’s vice president of small firm interests. "With OnPoint PCR, you’re guided with current standards as they change, eliminating excess work. That should help reduce anxiety and increase the firm’s bottom line."

OnPoint PCR was a recipient of CPA Practice Advisor’s 2018 Tax & Accounting Technology Innovation Award earlier this year. For more information about the solution, please visit cpa.com/onpoint.

About CPA.com

CPA.com brings innovative solutions to the accounting profession, either in partnership with leading providers or directly through its own development. The company has established itself as a thought leader on emerging technologies and as the trusted business advisor to practitioners in the United States, with a growing global focus.

Our company’s core mission is to drive the transformation of practice areas, advance the technology ecosystem for the profession, and lead technology research and innovation efforts for practitioners.

A subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, the company is also part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the world’s most influential organization representing the profession. For more information, visit CPA.com.

Clearinghouse Continues to Gain Traction with CPA Firms

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (Dec. 4, 2018) – Almost one-in-five of the top 100 accounting firms are now using RIVIO Clearinghouse, a private financial company information exchange developed by CPA.com and Confirmation. And with more uses for the platform being developed beyond the secure delivery of financial statements, RIVIO is increasingly serving as a centralized, streamlined distribution hub for firms of all sizes.

With the number of public companies declining sharply since the 1990s and more than $1.8 trillion in private capital raised in 2017, the marketplace is embracing RIVIO as a means to create transparency and trust in key financial data. The secure platform ensures that lenders, investors and other authorized users can obtain access to financial statements and other key documents from validated CPA firms, all delivered unaltered by management.

"We continue to see the application of RIVIO for multiple uses across the firm and business landscape," said Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com. "With the digitization of financial data and the emergence of a new family of assurance services beyond financial reporting, RIVIO has great value as a differentiator for firms and a robust, secure connection point to clients. It’s efficient, easy to use and fills a critical marketplace need."

RIVIO is driving value for CPA firms in three key areas:

Efficient digital workflow

RIVIO creates a centralized delivery hub that allows accountants to quickly select documents, create projects, and route reports securely to clients. It standardizes the report assembly and issuance process, giving CPA firms more control while improving efficiency. Critical alerts and notifications are automated – if a firm updates or withdraws a financial report, for example, the platform automatically notifies each recipient of the document.

Fraud prevention

An alleged $10 million financing fraud this past fall involving the parent company of Newsweek and several related entities offers another proof of concept for the solution. The alleged scheme revolved around the creation of a fictitious auditor – if the lenders had required receipt of the financial statements through RIVIO, the fraud could not have occurred. “This was a high-profile case but there are many similar frauds out there that don’t get the same media coverage, so it’s more common than you think,” said Brian Fox, president and founder of Confirmation

Enhancing advisory services

RIVIO is providing value for other uses beyond the distribution of audited financial statements. In the assurance category, for example, Systems and Organization Controls (SOC) examinations are in high demand for CPA firms and their clients. SOC reports are sophisticated reviews of a company’s internal controls over financial reporting, processes and cyber-readiness, among other areas, and help demonstrate that a potential vendor or business partner is taking the necessary steps to protect data privacy and availability and the integrity of their systems. Most variations of the reports are not public, however, and in fact require non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) from parties who wish to view them. New one-click functionality permits authorized users to sign the confidentiality agreements and gain immediate access to a SOC report, a streamlined process that gives clients maximum control and still creates documentation at each step.

To learn more about the clearinghouse and its applications, please visit RIVIO.com.

About CPA.com

CPA.com brings innovative solutions to the accounting profession, either in partnership with leading providers or directly through its own development. The company has established itself as a thought leader on emerging technologies and as the trusted business advisor to practitioners in the United States, with a growing global focus. Our company’s core mission is to drive the transformation of practice areas, advance the technology ecosystem for the profession, and lead technology research and innovation efforts for practitioners. A subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, the company is also part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the world’s most influential organization representing the profession. For more information, visit CPA.com.

About Confirmation

Confirmation is the digital platform and global network trusted by audit firms, banks, law firms, and credit managers to quickly and securely verify financial data. Founded in 2000, Confirmation invented electronic confirmations and reshaped and modernized the audit confirmation process. Today, Confirmation helps nearly 1 million clients across 160 countries confirm more than $1 trillion in financial data every year. Learn more at Confirmation.com.