Accounting firms are at a crossroads. Outdated systems, disconnected processes and increasing regulatory demands are straining efficiency and limiting growth. To stay competitive, firms must move beyond patchwork solutions and embrace a new way of working.

This guide lays out a clear roadmap for firms seeking to modernize their audit practices. Drawing on real-world lessons from firms, it highlights the proven steps—discovery, evaluation, planning, onboarding and continuous optimization—that help firms replace legacy systems with confidence.

This playbook shows how the right technology, paired with strong processes and vendor partnership, can accelerate efficiency, strengthen audit quality and improve the client experience.

Accuracy has always been at the heart of auditing. But it isn’t enough on its own. Clients expect not just accurate numbers, but consistency, speed and confidence that the audit process is robust from start to finish. 

The challenge is that manual review processes make it harder to deliver that confidence. 

The problem with manual reviews 

For many firms, financial statement reviews still depend on spreadsheets or printouts. While auditors take pride in being thorough, the process is often: 

• Inconsistent — Different reviewers apply checks differently, leading to uneven results. 

• Error-prone — Transcription errors or overlooked edits can slip through, even in careful reviews. 

• Inefficient — Every new draft means rechecking large sections of statements, wasting valuable time. 

Even when the numbers add up in the end, the path to get there can feel uncertain and unnecessarily slow. 

How automation changes the equation 

Automation doesn’t replace professional judgement. Instead, it strengthens it by ensuring accuracy checks are applied consistently, thoroughly and documented clearly. 

With Caseware Validate, firms can: 

• Run thousands of accuracy checks in seconds across tables, notes and disclosures 

• Flag errors instantly, instead of relying on manual spotting 

• Carry forward prior checks across versions so only new changes need review 

• Export marked-up PDFs with direct links to flagged issues 

• Standardise review workflows across teams and offices 

The result is a review process that auditors can trust and clients can have confidence in too. 

Proof in practice 

Leading firms have already seen the difference. 

After adopting Validate, MHA, a leading UK firm of chartered accountants and business advisers, and the exclusive UK member of Baker Tilly International, saw excellent results: 

• Casting time halved (25 minutes down to 12) 

• First-pass reviews cut from 58 to 42 minutes 

• Zero false positives — a critical factor in auditor confidence 

HLB Mann Judd Perth, a top-12 accounting and advisory firm in Western Australia, combining 10 partners and 90 professionals with the global strength of the HLB International network, found that Validate’s automated version comparison saved them hundreds of hours annually by eliminating repetitive rework.  

Audit Manager Noah Syed noted that with Validate, “Managers and seniors can focus on key risk areas and disclosures instead of rechecking figures.” 

These stories highlight a consistent theme: automation doesn’t just save time — it builds confidence that every review is accurate and consistent. 

Conclusion 

Accuracy is essential and Caseware Validate delivers it by automating checks, standardising reviews and documenting results in defensible ways. 

As one audit leader put it: 

“Once staff try Validate, they never want to go back.”  

Discover how Caseware Validate can improve the accuracy and consistency of your financial statement reviews. 

Financial statement reviews are supposed to be the final step before sign-off. Instead, they often feel like a marathon’s last mile. 

Casting, cross-checking, reconciling and comparing multiple versions can eat up hours for every engagement. And when teams are working through dozens or even hundreds of statements a year, the hours multiply quickly. The reality is that the “last mile” often ends up draining teams the most. 

But it doesn’t have to. 

Why the last mile feels the longest 

For many firms, manual review processes are still the norm. Teams rely on spreadsheets to re-enter data, reconcile notes and double-check figures. Every new draft starts the cycle again, even if only a handful of changes have been made. 

At HLB Mann Judd Perth, a leading accounting and advisory firm based in Western Australia, this was the reality. Noah Syed, Audit Manager with the firm, described the strain it placed on his team: 

“The first review of full-year financials took 3–4 hours, while half-year reviews took 1.5–2 hours,” he said. “With multiple drafts, we were spending 1,200 hours annually on first reviews.” 

The problem isn’t just time. Manual processes leave more room for human error, especially when comparing versions line by line. A missed inconsistency can ripple through an audit, eroding confidence and slowing down delivery. 

How Validate takes the burden off your team 

Caseware Validate transforms the way firms handle financial statement reviews. Instead of rechecking every draft manually, it runs thousands of accuracy checks in seconds — across tables, notes and disclosures. 

Here’s what that looks like in practice: 

• Instant accuracy checks: Validate quickly flags casting errors, mismatched notes and inconsistencies. 

• Version comparison made easy: Markups and references carry forward from one draft to the next, so auditors only review what’s new. 

• Defensible audit trails: Marked-up PDFs with direct links to flagged issues provide clear documentation for internal reviewers and regulators. 

• Built for scale: Because it’s cloud-based, Validate handles large sets of financials without the slowdowns and crashes common in Excel. 

With Validate, teams are able focus their energy on higher value tasks such as disclosures, judgement areas and client advisory. 

Real-world results: From hours to minutes 

At HLB Mann Judd Perth, Validate’s impact was immediate: 

• Time savings of up to 50% on subsequent drafts 

• 600+ hours saved annually across the audit team 

Syed described the difference: 

“In the first version, all the casting, referencing and prior-year references are handled by the software. That means managers and seniors can focus on key risk areas and disclosures instead of rechecking figures.” 

MHA, a leading UK firm of chartered accountants and business advisers, and the exclusive UK member of Baker Tilly International reported similar results. Once they began using Validate, they found: 

• Casting time cut in half (25 minutes down to 12) 

• Full first-pass reviews reduced from 58 to 42 minutes 

• Zero false positives — giving teams confidence in the results 

Bronwen de Abreu, Technical Director at MHA, summed it up: 

“We never encountered any false positives. We also found the ‘maybe’ or indeterminate flag in Validate particularly useful. It didn’t just give us a simple yes—it prompted us to think critically and apply our professional judgement, rather than solely relying on the software.” 

What those hours really mean for firms 

Saving hundreds of hours per year on reviews gives you better ways to invest your time. 

• Stronger client relationships: With fewer late nights spent chasing errors, teams have more capacity for advisory conversations and value-added analysis. 

• Improved staff retention: Automation removes tedious, repetitive work that contributes to burnout, especially among juniors. 

• Scalable capacity: Instead of hiring just to keep pace with workloads, firms can take on more clients without adding proportional headcount. 

When the “last mile” of the audit is streamlined, it frees teams to focus on the work that makes the biggest difference. 

The last mile made easier 

The financial statement review doesn’t have to be the hardest part of the audit. With Caseware Validate, firms save hundreds of hours, reduce errors and improve both efficiency and quality. 

As Syed at HLB Mann Judd Perth put it: 

“Validate makes the process of checking the accuracy of financial statements more efficient and of higher quality, which in turn allows the user to focus on the higher-level issues in their review.” 

When the last mile of the audit is faster and more reliable, your team can cross the finish line with confidence. Discover how you can reclaim your time with Caseware Validate.

Auditors don’t choose their profession to spend hours rekeying numbers from PDFs. Yet that’s exactly where too much audit time goes — combing through invoices, bank statements and government forms, manually tying them back to client records. 

The cost is steep. Work that should take minutes stretches into hours, increasing the risk of transcription errors, draining team morale and leaving less time for analysis or client conversations. For firms already juggling staff shortages and rising client expectations, manual testing has become one of the biggest bottlenecks in the audit process. 

But some firms are proving it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Why manual testing holds firms back 

Traditional substantive testing consumes valuable hours because evidence rarely arrives in auditor-friendly formats. Instead, it’s buried in: 

• PDFs and scanned images that don’t translate easily into Excel 

• Messy layouts with inconsistent columns or formats 

• Bulk documents like monthly subsidy statements or transaction listings that stretch across dozens of pages 

For firms under deadline pressure, these challenges compound. Teams spend more time cleaning and verifying data than actually interpreting it. The result is delays, late nights and reduced capacity for higher-value work. 

Synectic’s breakthrough: From hours to minutes 

Synectic Accountants & Advisors, a full-service firm in Australia, faced this exact challenge. In aged care audits, clients receive standardized monthly government subsidy statements. Auditors had to manually copy figures from 12 separate statements into their workpapers, check them against client records and reconcile totals. 

As Synectic Director Ben Coull recalled: 

“We’d go through 12 monthly statements, copy out the numbers, check them off, tie them back to the client’s records. It’s a good substantive audit procedure, but incredibly time-intensive.” 

By adopting Caseware Extractly, Synectic automated the process: 

• Upload in bulk — entire sets of statements processed at once 

• Template-driven extraction — consistent formatting for recurring layouts 

• Automated matching — totals and details verified against client records instantly 

• Interactive review — one-click navigation between extracted data and source documents 

The result was transformative. 

“What would have taken two or three hours, probably longer for our larger clients, is now a matter of minutes,” Coull said. 

Synectic now processes multiple aged care clients, including those with several facilities, using Extractly. They’ve scaled their testing capacity without needing additional staff, all while improving accuracy. 

Auditeo’s results: Cutting testing time by 50% 

Sydney-based audit firm Auditeo faced similar issues. Transaction testing was a manual grind, requiring junior staff to transcribe data from invoices and receipts into Excel. Errors slowed reviews and left senior auditors questioning the reliability of the work. 

Founder Didarul Khan turned to Extractly and saw immediate impact: 

“We reviewed timesheets before and after using Extractly and the difference was dramatic. It saved us hours per engagement.” 

Auditeo cut transaction testing time by more than 50%. Instead of junior staff spending hours on data entry, they now focus on higher-value tasks like risk assessment and balance sheet analysis. 

The bigger benefits for firms 

Time saved is only part of the story. By removing manual evidence handling, firms also gain: 

• Reliability — Automation reduces human error, giving auditors more confidence in their results. 

• Scalability — Firms can take on larger or more complex clients without hiring  significantly more staff. 

• Stronger staff experience — Juniors spend less time on rote work and more time developing professional skills. 

• Better client service — Faster turnaround and fewer errors strengthen client relationships. 

From bottleneck to advantage 

Substantive testing doesn’t have to be a bottleneck that holds firms back. With Extractly, it can become a competitive advantage, turning hours of manual work into minutes of automated, reliable testing. 

For Synectic, the payoff was scalability. For Auditeo, it was cutting testing time in half. For both, it was proof that automation isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about raising standards while freeing staff to focus on higher-value work. 

If your teams are still losing hours to PDFs and manual rekeying, now is the time to change that story. Discover how you can transform your substantive testing with Caseware Extractly. 

Growth is good news for an audit firm — more clients, more engagements, more revenue. But when audit files get bigger and deadlines don’t budge, growth can quickly feel like strain. 

Firms often respond the same way: stretch existing staff thinner or hire more juniors. Neither solution is sustainable. Overworked teams burn out and adding headcount only scales costs, not efficiency. 

The real question is: how can firms scale without overwhelming their people? 

Forward-thinking firms are finding the answer in AI-powered automation. 

Why growth can create bottlenecks 

Audit workloads don’t just grow in volume. They grow in complexity: 

• More clients mean more transaction testing, reconciliations and financial statements to review. 

• More data means more time spent extracting, formatting and validating evidence. 

• More scrutiny means more pressure to deliver consistent, defensible documentation. 

Without a smarter way of working, growth can magnify the cracks in existing workflows. 

Auditeo’s challenge 

Sydney-based audit firm Auditeo knows this problem well. Founded in 2020, the boutique firm quickly built a client base ranging from $10 million to $500 million in revenue. But success came with growing pains. 

Transaction testing, in particular, was slowing them down. Junior staff had to transcribe invoice details into Excel, then match them to client records. The process was slow and error-prone, leading to delays and rework. 

As founder Didarul Khan explained: 

“Transaction testing was manually intensive. Junior staff transcribed data from invoices into workpapers, and errors caused delays and rework. We needed a cost-effective way to save time and improve accuracy.” 

How Extractly and Validate changed the equation 

Auditeo adopted Caseware Extractly to automate transaction testing and Caseware Validate to streamline financial statement reviews. 

With Extractly, they could: 

• Convert messy PDFs and scanned images into structured, Excel-ready data 

• Match invoices, amounts and supplier names against client records automatically 

• Cut transaction testing time by more than 50% 

With Validate, they could: 

• Review large financial reports in minutes instead of hours 

• Automatically carry forward checks between drafts, avoiding repetitive rework 

• Reduce a four- to five-hour review of a listed company’s financials to just 10 minutes 

The combined impact gave Auditeo something every growing firm wants: the ability to handle more without exhausting their team. 

The human side of scaling 

The benefits were cultural as well as operational. 

By automating repetitive work, Auditeo freed up juniors to focus on higher-value tasks like risk assessments and balance sheet analysis. That shift improved engagement and gave staff more meaningful learning opportunities. 

As Khan shared: 

“We reviewed timesheets before and after using Extractly and the difference was dramatic. It saved us hours per engagement.” 

He also noted that the biggest barrier wasn’t technology. It was mindset: 

“The biggest challenge isn’t the technology. It’s getting people to embrace it. But once they see how much time Extractly and Validate save, it becomes an easy decision.” 

Why automation is the smarter path to growth 

Auditeo’s story reflects a wider trend. Firms of every size are realising that growth doesn’t have to mean burnout or constant hiring. Automation allows them to: 

• Expand capacity without scaling headcount — take on more clients without overloading teams. 

• Maintain quality under pressure — consistent checks reduce the risk of errors slipping through. 

• Improve staff retention — by replacing repetitive rekeying with more engaging, judgment-driven work. 

• Strengthen client relationships — faster, more accurate results build trust and loyalty. 

Scaling on your terms 

Firms can’t slow the pace of client demands, but they can control how they respond. By embedding automation into key workflows like substantive testing and financial statement review, firms can scale without compromising quality or overworking their people. 

Auditeo’s experience shows what’s possible: testing cut in half, reviews reduced from hours to minutes and staff able to focus on higher-value tasks. Find out how you can streamline your substantive testing and financial statement reviews with Caseware Extractly and Validate. 

On 13 November, join CwX APAC 2025 for practical insights, bold conversations and must-see keynotes, livestreamed across APAC.

Why Register?

CwX APAC 2025 is designed to give you the ideas, skills and connections that matter most for the future of accounting and audit. By registering, you will:

• Stay ahead as standards, technology and AI reshape the profession
• Hear from leaders driving the future of audit, accounting and assurance
• Learn flexibly with live sessions in your time zone and on-demand access
• Join sharper conversations guided by Imogen Wilson (Accountants Daily)

Agenda Highlights

Here’s a look at what awaits you at CwX APAC 2025:

• Opening Keynote: Delivered by Danielle Supkis Cheek, SVP AI, Analytics and Assurance, Caseware, a recognised leader in accounting innovation and strategy, named one of Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting.
• Fireside Chat: Featuring a senior leader from Caseware on the future of assurance
• Standards Update: Anne Waters, Deputy Technical Director, AUASB
• Industry Panel: The next chapter for accounting, audit and compliance in APAC
• The Great Caseware Pitch-Off: Innovation showcase, with the audience choosing the winner
• Customer Panel: Tech-enabled, people-led firms rewriting the audit playbook
• Closing Keynote: Christina Larkin, EY Oceania Assurance Digital Trust Leader — an expert in digital trust, Christina is responsible for utilising leading practice technology to provide Assurance services and help build trust in a digital world.

When to Join:
📅Thursday, 13 November 2025
🕙10:00 AM – 5:00 PM AEDT

Sydney/Melbourne: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM AEDT
Auckland/Wellington: 12:00 PM – 7:00 PM NZT
Singapore: 7:00 AM – 2:00 PM SGT

Recordings are included with registration, allowing you to catch up on any sessions you may have missed.

CwX APAC 2025 is free to attend. Register now to join the live experience and unlock access to all recordings.

What if every partner at your firm could open a dashboard and instantly see the status of every engagement, where bottlenecks are forming, and how cycle times are trending over the past year? 

What if your audit teams no longer had to waste hours pulling financial data for advisory colleagues, because the numbers were already searchable, exportable and ready to use? 
And what if you could walk into every client meeting not just with an audit opinion, but with clear performance insights that helped shape their business strategy? 

This isn’t a distant vision. Firms like Demers Beaulne and Novogradac are already working this way with Caseware Sherlock. By consolidating engagement data, automating repetitive tasks and delivering powerful visualizations, Sherlock turns “what if” into “what’s next” for modern audit practices. 

Drawing on the experiences of Demers Beaulne and Novogradac, let’s look at five common challenges audit firms face and how Sherlock is turning them into opportunities. 

1. Audit metadata is hard to see and act on 

For many firms, engagement information lives within individual working papers or in separate systems that rarely connect with one another. When there’s no single view of the work, audit leaders are left guessing about the status of each engagement, the issues that might be taking shape or the trends that need attention. Without that visibility, it becomes harder to direct your resources where they’re needed most and small problems can grow before anyone has a chance to address them. 

Sherlock addresses this challenge by aggregating metadata from all engagements in one environment. Michael Zipkin, Senior Manager, Assurance at Demers Beaulne, described the benefit in simple terms: “All the metadata that is contained within our engagements is available in Caseware Sherlock.… We can see at a glance where we’re at in terms of our engagements.”  

Instead of piecing together progress from multiple sources, managers can open a dashboard and immediately see status indicators and key metrics. Having this level of oversight can help you manage your current workloads and lay the groundwork for the next challenge, which is improving your efficiency in a measurable way. 

2. Audit efficiency is difficult to measure 

Even when your firm knows that bottlenecks exist, it can be hard to pinpoint where exactly your time is being lost without clear data on your audit cycle times. Minor inefficiencies might go unnoticed for a single engagement, but when multiplied across dozens of clients, they can lead to significant delays and cost overruns. 

Sherlock makes your efficiency visible by tracking the timelines of each engagement. It shows how long different phases take, identifies outliers and reveals patterns that might not be obvious in your day-to-day work.  

Rob Valdez, Director of Business Intelligence at Novogradac, explained, “We can actually see how long it’s taking us…and then how is that average changing over time?” He noted that trimming even small amounts of time “can really scale up to great savings and benefits” when applied across their portfolio. 

The insights gained here make it easier to set realistic benchmarks and target process changes. They also connect directly to the next challenge: ensuring valuable financial data is available to the right people without adding to your audit workloads. 

3. Firms struggle to deliver insights, not just audits 

Clients increasingly want more than a simple audit. They expect insights drawn from their data that can help them understand their performance and plan for the future. Such an analysis can be difficult without the right tools, though, especially when your teams are already stretched thin while trying to meet all applicable compliance requirements. 

Sherlock enables client-facing dashboards that summarize year-over-year trends and highlight key performance indicators. These visuals put raw figures into context so your clients can act on them.  

Sherlock streamlines benchmarking by standardizing client financial data and comparing it against industry norms or peer groups. Its dashboards highlight key ratios and trends, helping firms quickly spot outliers, assess risks and identify performance improvement opportunities. This turns audits into actionable insights that add advisory value for clients. 

“We can provide them with a set of performance indicators to let them know how their year went and the performance over time,” Zipkin said. 

By integrating these insights into ongoing conversations, firms can position themselves as strategic advisors as well as assurance providers. That ability to pivot from compliance to strategy leads directly into the next priority, which is using detailed data segmentation to refine your performance across different parts of the practice. 

4. The challenge of interoperability 

One of the most overlooked challenges firms face when adopting advanced analytics platforms is interoperability. Many organisations already invest heavily in business intelligence (BI) tools such as Tableau or Power BI, but the real value of these tools can only be unlocked when they are seamlessly integrated with the firm’s other systems. Without interoperability, valuable data remains siloed, creating inefficiencies and limiting the potential for firmwide insights. 

Sherlock addresses this challenge directly with its robust API capabilities. Firms can easily retrieve engagement metadata and feed it into existing BI environments like Tableau and Power BI. This ensures that Sherlock is not just another isolated tool, but rather a driver of connected ecosystems where data flows freely between systems. 

By leveraging Sherlock’s APIs, firms can build unified reporting ecosystems that empower decision-makers at every level. The result is an environment where engagement data  actively informs firmwide reporting, enhances visibility and drives smarter strategies. 

5. It’s hard to optimize all segments of the practice 

Without the ability to segment your audit data, it can be difficult to see where specific types of engagements are performing better or worse. This limits innovation within specialized service lines or programs, such as niche industries or tax incentives. 

Sherlock supports detailed subsegmentation across verticals, incentives and audit types, giving firms a granular view of their performance. Valdez explained, “We can start to subsegment our practice…dive into different granularity of detail and see where we can actually stand to benefit even more.” 

This level of analysis makes it possible to refine your procedures, whether that means adjusting your resource allocation, revisiting methodologies or focusing your training on specific engagement types. And when these insights are combined with the previous solutions, the results can be transformative. 

Connecting the solutions 

While each challenge is distinct, the solutions often overlap and build on one another. Consolidating data gives managers a clearer picture of where their team’s time is being spent. That visibility makes it easier to track your efficiency over time, and efficiency gains free up your resources to generate even more meaningful client insights. Standardized processes and segmentation can help you apply those insights across the practice. 

Both Demers Beaulne and Novogradac have shown that adopting Sherlock is more than just adding new software to your stack.  

Caseware’s audit practice intelligence software becomes part of your firm’s daily operations. Your staff will grow to trust its dashboards and reporting tools as a dependable reference point. Over time, the insights Sherlock provides will become a part of your team’s everyday client conversations, strengthening your firm’s relationships and demonstrating the value of a data-driven approach. 

Unlock the full potential of your audit practice 

The amount and complexity of clients’ audit data will only continue to grow. Rules will keep changing, and clients will keep expecting more. Firms that structure their processes around flexible, data-driven tools will be better equipped to adapt. Sherlock supports that readiness by organizing large datasets, automating repetitive tasks and delivering powerful audit data visualizations that make its findings clear to both auditors and their clients. 

For firms that are already using Sherlock, the next opportunity lies in deepening the integration across all service lines. For those still evaluating, the examples above show that the benefits are attainable and can be realised without disrupting the core of your practice. 

See what’s possible with the right tools. Get in touch with us to learn more about Caseware Sherlock. 

“Forty per cent of audits show major deficiencies. With AI reshaping audit in Australia and APAC, auditors must shift from referee to goalkeeper to protect audit quality.” 

Audit quality under pressure 

Audit regulators continue to sound the alarm. In 2022, the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board found that 40% of audits it inspected contained one or more significant deficiencies (Tellen.ai). Similar concerns have surfaced across Australia and the wider APAC region, where inspection results point to recurring weaknesses in risk assessment and testing. 

For firms already battling compressed timelines, resource shortages and evolving regulations, these findings are a reminder that current approaches are not keeping pace. 

The goalkeeper analogy 

At the recent Caseware Speaker Series, cybersecurity and risk expert David Gee argued that the profession must rethink its role. 

“Referees only call it when they see it,” he said. “Goalkeepers anticipate threats, position themselves ahead of time, and protect the team from loss.” 

For auditors, this means shifting from a compliance-first mindset to one that anticipates risk, leverages technology and prevents problems before they surface. 

Technology is redefining the play 

The tools now exist to make that shift possible. According to KPMG, 76% of Australian companies are already using or piloting AI in financial reporting, and 89% expect full adoption in the near term (The Australian). 

For auditors, AI and automation open the door to: 

• population-level testing instead of sampling 

• continuous transaction monitoring 

• faster anomaly detection 

• more time spent on judgment and assurance rather than routine checks 

Yet adoption across firms remains uneven. In the UK, regulators recently noted that even the largest firms do not consistently track how automation is influencing audit quality (Financial Times). 

Referees vs goalkeepers 

The difference in approach is clear: 

What holds firms back 

Despite the opportunity, auditors in Australia and across APAC face practical barriers: 

• Resource constraints: Peak season workloads leave little room for innovation. 

• Skills gaps: Many teams lack the data literacy and judgment to interpret AI outputs effectively. 

• Technology integration: Firms often invest in tools but fail to embed them in workflows. 

• Mindset: Audit is still seen as retrospective rather than anticipatory. 

Practical shifts for audit teams 

Moving toward the goalkeeper role does not require a radical overhaul. Firms can start with targeted actions: 

1. Use analytics in planning to flag risks before fieldwork. 

2. Pilot continuous monitoring tools for high-risk areas. 

3. Train staff in data literacy and AI interpretation, not just technical standards. 

4. Redefine audit quality metrics to include issues caught early or prevented. 

5. Communicate differently with clients, share insights throughout the process, not just at the end. 

Why the profession cannot wait 

The regulatory bar is rising. Clients want more than compliance. AI is changing what is possible in audit. Staying in referee mode risks leaving firms reactive and exposed. 

Adopting the goalkeeper mindset positions auditors as proactive protectors of trust, anticipating threats, preventing risks, and reinforcing their value in an industry under pressure. 

Join the next conversation 

The Caseware Speaker Series is designed to help practice firms tackle these challenges head-on. Each session brings together experts and practitioners to explore the innovations shaping accounting and audit, the risks firms need to anticipate, and the tools that support teams in achieving success. 

Don’t miss the next Caseware Speaker Series, subscribe here. Join peers across APAC for practical insights you can apply immediately. 

Go deeper at CwX APAC 

If the Speaker Series is the warm-up, CwX APAC is the main event. Think of it as the Caseware Speaker Series on steroids: a full program that brings together regional leaders, audit innovators, and technology experts to address the profession’s biggest challenges. 

CwX is where you step back from the busy season, gain perspective and prepare for what comes next. Whether it’s AI, ESG, or reshaping the audit playbook, the event offers the depth and breadth that practice firms need to thrive. 

Register now for CwX APAC 2025 and join the conversation shaping the future of audit in the region. 

For firms across the Asia-Pacific region, the current moment feels familiar: stretched teams, long hours and a growing list of deadlines that do not leave much time to look up, let alone look ahead. 

But when the pace finally slows and the noise settles, the next question inevitably emerges: what comes next? 

CwX APAC 2025 arrives at exactly that moment. It is not just another event on the calendar. It is a forum for clarity, connection and action. This is your opportunity to take stock of progress, reset your strategy and learn from peers who are facing the same pressures and moving forward. 

This year’s event is entirely virtual and designed to work around your schedule. All sessions will be recorded and made available to registered attendees, so you can access key insights even if you are deep in delivery work. 

Register now to secure your place and unlock post-event access to all sessions. 

A Cloud conversation grounded in reality 

The shift to cloud technology is no longer aspirational. It is operational. For many firms, the decision to move to the cloud has already been made. Now the focus is on execution, making it efficient, secure and scalable. 

In the opening session, Future Ready Firms Embracing the Cloud, a Caseware leader will share real-world strategies firms are using to modernise workflows and meet evolving client expectations. This session is ideal for partners and practice leaders navigating digital change while maintaining delivery momentum. 

How tech is quietly solving audit’s most persistent pain points 

Transformation does not always need to be disruptive. Many of the most valuable improvements happen quietly within the audit file. 

In How Tech Is Quietly Solving Audit’s Most Persistent Pain Points, Danielle Supkis-Cheek, Caseware’s SVP AI, Analytics and Assurance,  explains how firms are solving longstanding inefficiencies using accessible technology. From data issues to bottlenecks in review and approval, this session focuses on practical solutions for firms that want to streamline without starting from scratch. 

If you are under pressure to improve without overhauling your entire process, this is a must-attend. 

Explore the full agenda to see how each session aligns with your current challenges. 

Strategy is no longer just about growth 

Clients now expect more than completion. They want insight, flexibility and partnership. 

Future Ready Firms Driving Smart Growth brings together industry leaders across APAC who are expanding their service models and evolving their workforce. For directors and senior managers, this session offers tested strategies for sustainable growth in a market shaped by regulation, AI and client demand. 

Choosing tools that actually deliver 

With so many digital tools available, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. The real question is which solutions genuinely improve performance without adding complexity. 

The Great Caseware Pitch-off features product specialists demonstrating practical, ready-to-use technology. From automated validation to financial reporting, attendees will vote on which solution delivers the most real-world impact. It is a rare opportunity to learn from side-by-side comparisons grounded in use cases instead of marketing slides. 

ESG expectations are rising 

Across APAC, regulators are raising the bar on ESG and sustainability disclosures. Clients are looking to their firms for direction and reporting complexity is growing. 

Caseware outlines how its solutions are evolving to meet these new requirements. Whether your firm is considering ESG advisory services or simply preparing to comply, this session gives you a valuable look at what is coming next. 

A people-led approach to technology 

Tools alone are not enough. People must drive and sustain the change. 

Tech-Enabled, People-Led: How Firms Are Rewriting the Audit Playbook highlights firms that are adapting their strategies to succeed in a digital-first audit environment. The discussion features experts with deep, practical experience including:  

• Kaisee Chwalko, Director at AQA Advisory, who advises audit and assurance teams across APAC on embedding technology into workflows while maintaining team engagement and client service standards. 

• Low Aik Liang, Founder and Partner at YouTrust Singapore, a boutique firm offering audit, tax and corporate services. With prior experience at EY and Crowe Singapore, Aik Liang brings both Big 4 and mid-tier perspectives on managing change across teams and industries. He is a Chartered Accountant of Singapore and a Certified Fraud Examiner. 

Christina Larkin: ‘Why the Future of Audit Needs a Human Core’ 

The final session at CwX APAC 2025 is delivered by Christina Larkin, EY Oceania’s Digital Assurance Leader and a respected voice on digital trust, responsible AI and the future of the profession. 

Christina will share how firms can harness innovation without losing their human foundation. She will offer a forward-looking message focused on integrity, adaptability and the role of purpose in leading transformation. 

With the theme “Elevate the Experience: Technology That Empowers People”, at its foundation, this keynote celebrates the progress firms have made and encourages attendees to return to their teams inspired to lead. 

A timely moment to reset 

CwX APAC is designed for professionals like you. You are busy, ambitious and deeply invested in delivering high-quality work while preparing for what is next. 

The event is free to attend, entirely virtual and all sessions will be available on demand to everyone who registers. You do not have to miss out because of scheduling conflicts or seasonal peaks. 

This year’s event will be hosted and moderated by Imogen Wilson, journalist at Accountants Daily, who brings an informed, curious and grounded perspective to every conversation. Her presence ensures that each session stays focused on what matters most to the people doing the work: clarity, value and action. 

Whether you are leading a firm, evolving your audit practice, exploring new tools or simply needing a moment of reflection, CwX APAC 2025 gives you access to the conversations shaping the future of audit in APAC. 

Register today to gain access and be part of a community redefining what it means to deliver value in 2026 and beyond. 

Artificial intelligence has already arrived in the audit profession. It is changing how firms test transactions, assess risks and provide assurance. For internal auditors, external

practitioners and decision-makers, the critical issue is not whether AI will influence their work, but how to adopt it responsibly while protecting against new risks.

At the recent Caseware Speaker Series, cyber risk leader and author David Gee urged auditors to shift their perspective. “Everybody is rushing into AI. There will be car crashes,” he said. “The challenge is to balance speed of innovation with controls that prevent serious missteps.”

Gee argued that auditors should no longer see themselves as referees who only blow the whistle on errors. Instead, they must become goalkeepers who actively protect their organisations while supporting innovation.

Why AI matters for auditors

AI is already reshaping audit processes.

• Automation is reducing time spent on routine testing.
• Predictive analytics is helping auditors detect risks earlier.
• Continuous monitoring is moving assurance away from annual cycles toward near real-time oversight.

The scale of this shift is clear. Gartner’s 2023 Hype Cycle for Generative AI report predicts that by 2026 more than 80 per cent of enterprises will be using generative AI applications, compared with fewer than 5 per cent in 2023.

Four priorities for balancing risk and innovation

1. Build AI Literacy Across Teams Most auditors still rate themselves as beginners in AI. Gee emphasised that this gap must close quickly. Audit teams need to understand how models are trained, how data quality affects outcomes and how to challenge vendor claims. Training programs from professional bodies such as ISACA provide practical entry points.

2. Strengthen Governance and Oversight Traditional frameworks do not cover AI effectively. Boards and audit committees should establish AI ethics committees or appoint a Chief AI Officer. They must require

documentation of AI decision-making and maintain strong audit trails. Risk appetite statements also need updating to reflect AI adoption.

3. Move from Reactive to Predictive Auditing AI can help auditors anticipate risks before they escalate. This requires investment in continuous monitoring systems that detect anomalies in real time. Gee also highlighted the importance of red teaming, where AI models are stress-tested to identify weaknesses before they undermine audit quality.

4. Focus on Human Skills AI Cannot Replace While AI can accelerate processes, it cannot replicate judgment. Critical thinking, ethics, leadership and communication remain vital. “These are things AI cannot do, and they will only become more important,” Gee said.

Key risks in AI adoption

• AI adoption carries significant risks.
• Bias in algorithms can distort audit evidence.
• Data confidentiality may be compromised when sensitive information is processed externally.
• AI-driven cybercrime is projected to cost the global economy trillions within three years.
• Hallucinations and lack of explainability may undermine audit credibility and complicate regulatory defence.

Australia’s Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB) has already identified AI as an area of concern and is expected to release further guidance.

Why smaller firms may have an advantage

Large firms often lead technology adoption, but Gee suggested that smaller practices may adapt more quickly. With flatter structures and fewer rigid roles, small and mid-sized firms can run pilot projects with less resistance.

Examples include using AI to draft management letters, summarise client data and assist with risk assessments. These smaller initiatives allow teams to build experience and confidence without major disruption.

“The biggest challenge is not the technology. It is convincing people to embrace it,” Gee noted.

Next Steps for the Profession

Responsible adoption of AI requires a deliberate approach. Auditors should begin with small projects, invest in literacy, embed governance frameworks and double down on the human skills that technology cannot replicate. David Gee has written a practical guide on AI in audit with detailed recommendations. A recording of his full webinar is also available on demand.