6th May 2027

TIMING

COURSE CODE

MY06B7

SPEAKER

Peter Beard

OBJECTIVES

Generative AI has moved from novelty to normal practice in audit and assurance. The tools are now capable of doing real audit work, and the question every firm faces is how to use tools like Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude and others in an auditable way that stands up to review. This session equips audit and assurance professionals to apply generative AI across the audit lifecycle for better quality and greater efficiency, with responsible, standards-aligned use at its centre.

You will see what the current generation of tools can actually do on audit work: analysing client data for anomalies, researching accounting and auditing standards, drafting workpapers and documentation, testing and sampling support, and writing clear client communications.

The session covers the newest and emerging capabilities that have settled into everyday use, including AI agents that carry out multi-step tasks under your instruction, and cowork modes that let you and the tool work on the same file together. Each is shown in an audit context, with the review and validation steps that make the output defensible.

You will also work through the governance side: where your data goes and what the different plan tiers actually protect, the ethical principles and professional scepticism that apply to AI-assisted work, current regulatory expectations, and how to judge when an AI-assisted output is good enough to put on file. Everything is demonstrated live on a realistic client data, and you leave confidently knowing how to apply GenAI to practice, with a use case register, working agents and practical use case to take back to their team.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Audit and assurance professionals at any level, from trainees through to partners, who want a practical, hands-on view of generative AI in audit work. No technical background is needed. Equally useful for those who have not yet started and those already using AI who want to standardise it across a team.

TOPICS

• The audit lifecycle using GenAI: an end-to-end walk-through of where AI genuinely helps, and limitations
• Planning and risk assessment: analysing client data for anomalies and researching standards at speed.
• Fieldwork and evidence: drafting documentation and workpapers, identifying trends and outliers.
• Reporting and communication: clear, accurate and compliant reports, summaries and client letters.
• AI agents in practice: what an agent is, what it can safely be asked to do in an audit context, and where a human must stay in the loop.
• Prompting that produces auditable output: a repeatable framework, and turning a good prompt into a firm-wide standard.
• Ethics, scepticism and governance: professional standards, independence and current regulatory expectations applied to AI-assisted work.
• Security and data: where your data goes, what the different plan tiers protect, and practical guardrails.
• The three lenses: your own use of AI, your client's use of AI, and what both do to the risk profile of the engagement.

VENUE

This course will be available live online. You will be emailed the link to join two days before the course date.

DISTRICT

All

COURSE FEE

 £115+VAT. (click here for information on the Flexiticket discount scheme - fees as low as £67.00+VAT per place).