KPMG LLP’s Audit practice is embedding the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform within KPMG Clara, its global smart audit platform that brings together data and analytics, artificial intelligence and automation, collaboration capabilities and audit workflow, to deliver a better audit experience.

By leveraging Databricks technology, KPMG auditors can analyze billions of financial transactions across thousands of audits, driving enhanced audit quality and deeper insights into audit-related risks in order to maintain public trust in the capital markets.

The firm’s ongoing alliance with Databricks will further accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence within KPMG’s audits. AI is revolutionizing business models across industries. Its integration into organizations enhances productivity, scales work processes and accelerates value delivery to clients. Despite the potential benefits of AI, there are still concerns regarding transparency and data privacy. Responsible AI is only as good as the data it relies on.

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“We are harnessing the transformative power of AI to deliver a timely, risk-based audit that analyzes more data to uncover unique audit insights that can help audit committees and management teams better understand risks within their financial reporting processes,” said Tim Walsh, KPMG U.S. National Managing Partner – Audit Operations. “The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform provides a robust backbone for trusted, reliable data and AI solutions that support high-quality audit delivery.”

“We are excited to collaborate with KPMG on KPMG Clara to provide institutions with enhanced audit quality and insights centered on data, analytics and AI,” said Michael Hartman, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Regulated Industries at Databricks. “Harnessing the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform, KPMG Clara utilizes an open, unified foundation for all data and governance to help institutions unlock the full potential of their data and deliver an unparalleled audit experience.”

A recent KPMG AI survey found that financial reporting functions are accelerating the adoption of AI and generative AI, with 100% of U.S. financial reporting leaders reporting that in the next three years they will be either piloting or using AI in financial reporting, up from 71% today. As for generative AI, 97% will be either piloting or using the technology in financial reporting in three years, up from 46% today. In fact, GenAI is the most prioritized technology among U.S. financial reporting leaders in the coming year.

The top five benefits anticipated from AI adoption include real-time insights into risks, fraud and control weaknesses (70%); lower costs (58%), ability to predict trends and impacts (57%), increased data accuracy and reliability (57%) and better data-enabled decisions (53%).

KPMG Clara brings everything together for a seamless, integrated audit experience with on-demand learning that helps auditors make and document decisions that are all aligned to the latest accounting standards. It delivers a data-driven audit, extracting and analyzing transaction-level data to fine-tune risk assessments and glean new audit insights to show outliers and more.

KPMG uses Databricks to deliver data, analytics and AI solutions across the firm, from the front-office and how the firm goes to market to back-office operations. As a data-driven organization, KPMG leverages its data estate to deliver high-quality, timely and relevant Audit insights to clients and stakeholders. The firm has embraced emerging capabilities and is working with Databricks to leverage its Data Intelligence Platform. The platform combines data warehouse and data lake capabilities, providing the flexibility to store unstructured data such as photos, presentations and other file formats with the ability to deliver highly structured views based on user requirements.

The collaboration with Databricks allows business organizations to govern and control the data supporting business intelligence and AI, offering tremendous promise for transforming the way that organizations realize the benefits of data and AI.