BDO conducted its third annual audit innovation survey, polling 200 senior finance executives to examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping enterprises and the audit function today.
AI tools are now deeply embedded in key financial business processes. Many corporate executives say the technology strongly supports forecasting and analysis, asset valuation, auditing and various other tasks. These findings come from the third annual audit innovation survey by BDO, which interviewed 200 finance leaders to study how AI is transforming businesses and audit work. The respondent mix was 54% finance directors or vice presidents of finance, about one-third chief financial officers, and 9% controllers. The survey also found that AI adoption is advancing quickly, but the maturity of supporting governance systems lags far behind. Fewer than half of organizations have established a complete institutional framework to verify every output generated by artificial intelligence. Finance leaders both expect AI to improve audit quality and worry that over-reliance on AI could weaken human professional judgment while introducing new risks.
Other key survey findings
AI adoption is nearly universal. Among the finance leaders surveyed, 99% said their companies already use artificial intelligence to generate financial estimates or to inform a financial judgment, and these figures and judgments must be reviewed by external auditors.
Perceived value of AI in auditing. About 65% of respondents believe that expanding the use of AI in audits can improve audit rigor and reduce human error. When asked about the biggest benefit of auditors using AI and automation technology, 27% said it allows more time to be devoted to assessing complex risks and unusual transactions, while 24% said it improves the consistency and coverage of audit work, ranking as the top two responses. About 63% of respondents believe agentic AI will deliver the most significant improvement in audit quality over the next three years.
A reporter interviewed BDO National Assurance Leader Demetrios Frangiskatos about this latest report. The following is a condensed and edited version of the interview.
Reporter: Which survey highlights struck you the most? Everyone is talking about AI use, but I don't think everyone can fully see AI's actual capabilities, nor have they fully thought through efficiency, work effectiveness, and how to ensure the credibility of AI outputs. Ultimately, we should develop a clear strategy that enables teams to keep innovating on one hand, implements platform technology on the other, and combines the two organically.
Reporter: What concerns do corporate managers have about using AI in audit scenarios? The most central questions are: which financial estimates involved AI? Who is responsible for this? Can we provide a complete audit trail so that others can verify the results? From a financial reporting perspective, these three questions deserve the most attention. The scale of AI use in auditing is growing, but the overall pace is very cautious. Companies need to build robust quality control systems to ensure the credibility of both the technology itself and the data outputs, and to ensure reliable audit outputs. In our view, this is more a human transformation than a purely technological one, because we firmly believe people must remain at the center. Technology outputs ultimately still need human judgment; the professional judgment, risk identification, and assessment of practitioners are the most important part of the entire process.
Comments