AI in the Accounting Big Four – Comparing Deloitte,

PwC, KPMG, and EY

Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC) and KPMG are among the largest service
providers in the accounting industry, collectively referred to as the Big Four. The Big Four all seem to have
Artificial Intelligence(AI) initiatives and the goal of this article here is to compare and contrast their AI-
related efforts (and purported results). A few of the Big Four have invested heavily in innovation labs and
claim to embrace a new era of automation and augmentation.
1. Deloitte
 Deloitte is one of the biggest accounting brands under which lie several professionals and firms
that offer auditing, strategy consulting and tax preparation related services. Deloitte vies for market
share and press through thought leadership and like the other Big Four, it has increasingly focused
its white papers and research on the topic of artificial intelligence.
 Deloitte breaks down AI technologies into three discreet categories:
- Product : AI technology embedded into the product or service itself to provide all the
associated end-customer benefits.
- Process : AI technology to streamline daily workflow and operations to automate and
increase day-to-day productivity.
- Insight : AI is used to make informed and strategic decisions to provide targeted advice to
a company to new or existing businesses.
 To support the technology used by the company, Deloitte recently has partnered with IBM Watson.
As a result of these partnership, these are the following of some business use-cases :
- LeasePoint : it is powered by IBM TRIRIGA and utilizes Deloitte’s knowledge in
leasing industry to teach the AI-enabled system to develop an end-to-end leasing portfolio
- Visual inspection of assets : Using IBM’s Maximo technology Deloitte claims to be
improving asset inspection on wind farms.
 Deloitte Catalyst is a startup network that works to translate AI technologies into practical business
solutions for client firms.
2. Ernst & Young (EY)
 Formerly known as Ernst & Young, EY is one of the largest professional service providing firms
in the world. It operates as a network of firms which function independently in different countries,
collectively offering assurance, audit, tax, consulting and advisory services to companies.
 The company claims that the use of AI has made it easier to capture relevant information from
contracts such as lease commencement date, amount to be paid, and renewal or termination options.
 EY is working to automate the auditing process. They claim that this reduces the administrative
time spent on reviewing audit documents and gives employees more time to participate in the
judgment and analytical part of the process.
 According to EY, use of drones allows more data to be captured in the process of auditing. It also
allows auditors to focus on risk areas rather than taking stock of inventory manually.
3. PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC)
 As the second largest professional services firm by revenue, PwC, claims to have begun adopting
AI as well.
 PwC develops GL.ai in October 2017 on a collaboration with H2O.ai, a Silicon Valley company
that developed an AI-enabled system capable of analyzing documents and preparing reports. PwC
 claims that GL.ai learns and becomes more capable with every audit (a common capability for ML
applications).
 PwC claim that they have made a significant investment in Natural Language Processing (NLP),
an AI-enable technology for this purpose. NLP makes sense of complex lease agreements, revenue
contracts, and board meeting minutes to form meaningful insights for clients.
4. KPMG
 As one of the member of big four, KPMG also using AI to analyze and extract information from
leasing or investment.
 KPMG has built its own portfolio of AI tools called KPMG Ignite. The KPMG Ignite offering is
designed to enhance business decisions and process on a digital platform.
 KPMG Ignite key features include AI integrators to make these tools compatible with existing IT
infrastructure, guidance for client firms and testing, prototype development, and innovation on
emerging AI applications.
 KPMG is also using AI to analyze and extract information from leasing or investment agreements.
These are some of the business process where KPMG applied the AI technology
- Call Center Analytics Engine : Utilizes NLP to design a model to predict future events
and even convert customer calls to unstructured text, which is then streamlined to identify
keywords, customer sentiment and predict future trends.
- AI Anomalous Event Predicting Tool : Uses AI techniques to develop a model to
predict future business events.
- Document Compliance Assessment Engine : Uses AI to read a documentation- contract,
leasing and investment agreement- in its entirety and yield relevant information.

Source : https://emerj.com/ai-sector-overviews/ai-in-the-accounting-big-four-comparing-deloitte-pwc-
kpmg-and-ey/