EY announced an investment of more than US$1b in a next generation assurance technology platform – part of a sustained focus on providing high quality audits and responding rapidly to changing expectations from regulators, governments, standard setters, audit committees and boards. The four-year investment is enabled by a wider US$2.5b program, announced by the EY organization in September 2021.
- Investment in a next-generation assurance technology platform and application of advanced technologies including artificial intelligence
- Funding covers EY Assurance services including financial and nonfinancial reporting
- Integrated platform will support the changing needs of the capital markets
The investment will support the integration of existing EY Assurance technologies into one seamless platform that combines the strengths of the organization’s leading-class global audit platforms and leverages advanced technologies from EY alliance partners to power a new generation of data-driven assurance services.
The program to build an integrated assurance technology platform facilitates transformation in three major areas: data access capabilities and advanced analytics; artificial intelligence; and the user experience.
The integration and transformation of assurance technology will leverage the strong foundations of EY Assurance’s existing leading-class audit technology suite, including EY Canvas – the current EY cloud based global audit platform. This platform, one of the largest business-to-business (B2B) platforms in the profession, is accessed by over 350,000 EY client users and 120,000 EY people.
The investment program will also capitalize on the suite of EY Helix global data analyzers and global audit methodology. EY teams use these analyzers to process over 680b lines of company financial data each year, supporting a transformation that will allow the EY organization to analyze more financial and non-financial data, leveraging new statistical and predictive analytics.
These enhanced capabilities and globally consistent methods aim to facilitate advanced risk identification and mitigation and help prepare for the complex needs of expanding assurance services, and help businesses to build further trust across the capital markets.
Commenting on the investment announcement, Andreas Avraamides, Partner and Head of Assurance Services of EY Cyprus, said: “Advances in technology pursued by EY are taking audit quality to the next level and help strengthen stakeholder trust. Our new platform will respond to audit committee and regulator rising expectations, will provide new capabilities and significantly improve the user experience. We are all proud of our global and local teams which are providing our clients with exceptional assurance services, helping them pursue sustainable long-term value.”
