KUALA LUMPUR (June 28): One of the Big Four accounting firms, Ernst & Young (EY), is investing more than US$1 billion in a next generation assurance technology platform to provide high quality audits and to respond rapidly to changing expectations from regulators, governments, standard setters, audit committees and boards.

In a statement on Tuesday (June 28), EY said that the four-year investment is enabled by a wider US$2.5 billion programme announced by the EY organisation in September 2021. The plan includes technology investment with a strong focus on artificial intelligence, trusted data fabric and disruptive technologies, as well as the wider EY ecosystem of strategic alliances.

"The investment will support the integration of existing EY Assurance technologies into one seamless platform that combines the strengths of the organisation's leading-class global audit platforms and leverages advanced technologies from EY alliance partners to power a new generation of data-driven assurance services," it said.

"The programme 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."

It added that 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 platforms in the profession, is accessed by over 350,000 EY client users and 120,000 EY people," it highlighted.

According to EY, the investment programme will also capitalise on the suite of EY Helix global data analysers and global audit methodology.

"EY teams use these analysers to process over 680 billion lines of company financial data each year, supporting a transformation that will allow the EY organisation to analyse 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," it said.

EY global assurance vice chair Marie-Laure Delarue said that advances in technology and teaming across the EY organisation will take to the next level the audit quality, the scope of assurance services, and the experience for EY clients and people.

"I am proud that EY teams are helping companies pursue sustainable long-term value and to ultimately win even greater trust among their stakeholders," she said.

EY global assurance digital leader Marc Jeschonneck said the investment supports the delivery of data-driven audits and other assurance services, and ultimately provides a new level of capabilities to significantly improve user experience.

"This transformation responds to the audit committee and finance leaders' expectations that now encompass not just audit and accounting, but also the broader reporting landscape including sustainability."