Unlocking Efficiency in Financial Auditing with Agentive: The AI-Powered Copilot
Are you tired of spending endless hours searching, extracting, and manipulating data during financial audits? Do you wish you could focus more on audit strategy and less on repetitive tasks? Welcome to Agentive, the game-changing startup founded in 2023 by a trio of auditors and tech experts. In this article, we'll delve into the world of Agentive, an AI-powered auditing platform that promises to revolutionize the way financial audits are conducted. Join us as we explore the founders, the problem they're solving, and the ingenious solution they've crafted.
Who's Behind Agentive?
Meet the Visionaries
Before we dive into the details of Agentive, let's get acquainted with the brilliant minds behind this innovative startup. The core team of Agentive comprises three exceptional individuals, each bringing a unique set of skills and experiences to the table.
Daniel Alberson - The Auditing Maverick
Daniel Alberson is the co-founder and CEO of Agentive. His journey began in the world of auditing when he embarked on his career as an auditor and product manager at Ernst & Young. Armed with a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from BYU, Daniel gained invaluable insights into the auditing profession. However, he didn't stop there. Daniel's thirst for innovation led him to drop out of Northwestern's Master in Product Design program to join Facebook as a product manager for augmented reality glasses.
What Makes Daniel Stand Out?
Daniel Alberson stands out due to his unique blend of auditing and product management expertise. By merging these two seemingly disparate fields, he is on a mission to transform the auditing profession as we know it.
Vidyasagar Ranganaboina - The Tech Titan
Vidyasagar Ranganaboina, or Vidyasagar for short, is another co-founder of Agentive. With a solid background in engineering and leadership, he boasts over 10 years of experience working with startups and tech giants alike. Vidyasagar made a name for himself at Google, where he led Engineering, Machine Learning, and Data Science teams. Notably, he was instrumental in building financial fraud detection systems at Google and pioneering novel AI systems at C3.ai. Prior to this, he co-founded an enterprise software startup in India.
Why Vidyasagar is a Tech Trailblazer
Vidyasagar's impressive academic credentials include a Master's degree in AI/ML and a Bachelor's in Engineering Physics from IIT-Madras. His profound knowledge of AI and enterprise software forms the technological backbone of Agentive.
Kyle Saunders - The Audit-Software Fusionist
Completing the triumvirate of founders is Kyle Saunders. Kyle is a former CPA and has worked with both Deloitte and EY on some of their most significant financial services audits. He holds dual degrees in accounting from BYU. However, Kyle's career took a fascinating turn when he pivoted into software engineering. His expertise now lies in building complex user interfaces atop classified AI platforms, aligning perfectly with Agentive's mission.
What Makes Kyle a Unique Asset
Kyle Saunders bridges the gap between traditional auditing and cutting-edge software engineering. He brings both passions together to drive Agentive's mission of providing AI-powered leverage to financial auditors.
The Birth of Agentive
The story of Agentive's inception is rooted in the founders' experiences as auditors at Ernst & Young and Deloitte. Danny Alberson and Kyle Saunders found themselves grappling with the monotony of repetitive tasks that auditing often entails. Meanwhile, Vidyasagar Ranganaboina was gaining expertise in AI and enterprise software at Google. Their paths converged when they decided to address a common pain point in the auditing profession.
Why Do Auditors Need Agentive?
Financial auditors play a critical role in ensuring the accuracy and integrity of a company's financial records. However, they often find themselves bogged down by time-consuming tasks, leaving little room for strategic thinking. Let's delve into the problem Agentive is determined to solve.
The Challenge
Auditors face a dual challenge. First, they spend a significant portion of their time, approximately 40%, searching for, extracting, and manipulating data during audit procedures. Second, an additional 20% of their time is consumed by preparing audit documentation. While advancements like Optical Character Recognition (OCR) have made it easier to work with evidence provided by clients, the process remains cumbersome. Audit procedures tend to be standardized across clients, and documentation often remains largely identical year after year, with only the current year's data changing. This creates a dilemma for audit staff who aspire to be more involved in audit strategy but are burdened by manual work. Consequently, high turnover rates and a shortage of accountants entering the profession persist.
The Solution
Agentive offers a compelling solution to the woes of auditors. Their approach involves training large language models specifically tailored to accounting and audit use cases. Here's how Agentive tackles the problem head-on:
In-Browser Spreadsheet Editor and Document Viewer
Agentive provides auditors with an in-browser spreadsheet editor and document viewer. This intuitive platform allows auditors to interact with Agentive's copilot using natural language. Imagine having the power of AI at your fingertips during your audit process.
Natural Language Interaction
One of the standout features of Agentive is its ability to process natural language commands. Auditors can instruct the copilot to analyze evidence, perform procedures, and draft documentation, all with the efficiency of a copilot that understands your language. It's like working with ChatGPT during your audit.
Traceability
To ensure transparency and accuracy, Agentive makes it remarkably easy to trace AI-generated data back to its source. This not only speeds up document preparation by audit staff but also enhances the efficiency of management and partner reviews.
How Agentive's Copilot Boosts Efficiency
Agentive's copilot is a versatile tool that empowers auditors in numerous ways. Let's explore the key functionalities that make it a game-changer in the world of financial auditing.
Extracting Text/Tables
With Agentive's copilot, auditors can effortlessly extract text and data from documents, including PDFs. This extracted information can then be analyzed or seamlessly moved to spreadsheets or workpapers for further processing.
Compliance Checking
Agentive's copilot has the capability to analyze the content of documents to check compliance with various regulations, standards, or policies. It can provide detailed reports highlighting any areas of non-compliance, ensuring a rigorous audit process.
Content Search and Retrieval
Advanced content searches within documents are made easy with Agentive. Auditors can search for specific phrases, keywords, or patterns and retrieve relevant sections swiftly. This functionality streamlines the information retrieval process during audits.
Natural Language Querying
Say goodbye to complex formulas. Agentive's copilot simplifies data retrieval by allowing auditors to extract information from spreadsheets using natural language queries. It's a boon for auditors who want quick access to critical data without diving into the intricacies of formulas.
Reconciliations
Auditors can validate data within documents by cross-referencing it with other sources, such as spreadsheets. Agentive's copilot can highlight any discrepancies that require further investigation, ensuring data accuracy.
Natural Language Summarization
Last but not least, Agentive's copilot can automatically generate concise written summaries of financial data in spreadsheets. This feature enables auditors to quickly comprehend key insights without the need to sift through voluminous raw data.
Conclusion: Transforming Financial Auditing with Agentive
Agentive, the AI-powered copilot for auditors, has emerged as a beacon of hope in the auditing profession. With its visionary founders and innovative approach to solving age-old problems, Agentive promises to revolutionize the way financial audits are conducted. By automating repetitive tasks and enhancing the efficiency of auditors, Agentive paves the way for auditors to transition seamlessly from strategy to judgment.
As auditors increasingly rely on AI-powered solutions like Agentive, the future of financial auditing appears brighter than ever. With time-consuming tasks offloaded to AI copilots, auditors can focus on what truly matters—providing valuable insights and strategic guidance to businesses worldwide.
In a world where efficiency and accuracy are paramount, Agentive is the partner auditors have been waiting for. Welcome to the future of financial auditing. Welcome to Agentive.