BDO brings audit and risk platform Fieldguide to Australia
Accounting and consulting firm BDO is bringing its global partnership with AI-powered audit platform Fieldguide to Australia as the complexity of risk and assurance continues to increase.
Co-founded in 2020 by former EY professional Jin Chang, the Fieldguide platform is geared towards accounting, audit, and advisory providers, deploying AI ‘field agents’ to simplify workflows and management across the audit lifecycle.
BDO said the platform would enable its local Australian teams to automate and accelerate the labour-intensive aspects of its engagements, such as analysing documentation, performing testing, and identifying any areas that require further investigation.
“For us, the opportunity is to combine AI capability with the experience and judgement of our people to deliver better risk outcomes,” said BDO risk advisory leader Luke Eason. “If technology can significantly reduce the time spent collecting, checking and processing information, our people can spend more time understanding where the issues are and what clients should do about them.”
As regulatory pressures and stakeholder scrutiny continues to grow and converge with emerging technologies, Eason also said the Australian roll-out of Fieldguide comes at a time when organisations are being challenged to innovate and leverage AI to provide greater assurance across a rapidly expanding risk landscape – which is in part due to the advent of AI itself.
“Boards and executives want greater visibility over risk, but the scope of what organisations need to monitor and assure is growing significantly,” Eason continued. “Cyber security, supply chains, third parties, regulatory obligations, and the adoption of AI are creating new exposures at the same time as organisations are also being asked to demonstrate stronger governance and control.”
BDO announced its strategic partnership with Fieldguide in March, followed by a steady roll-out across its international member firms and an initial focus on risk advisory services such as internal audit and third-party assurance – although with plans to expand the platform’s use to other advisory areas over time. BDO is also working with Fieldguide to develop bespoke solutions.
Eason concludes: “Fieldguide brings the latest generation of agentic AI capabilities to the fingertips of our internal audit, risk & compliance teams – helping us deliver an enhanced client experience through faster turnaround times, deeper insights, and continuous innovation. Equally important, this partnership connects us to a global community of BDO and Fieldguide practitioners.”
