EY releases more than 20 new Assurance technology capabilities supported by Microsoft alliance in first year of US$1b investment program

The EY organization today announces an expansion of its collaboration with Microsoft as the EY organization completes the first 12 months of a four-year investment of more than US$1b to deliver its next generation Assurance technology platform. The EY organizations investment is part of a sustained focus on maintaining the highest-level of audit quality promoting confidence in business and the capital markets and providing for a scalable and right-sized audit that aligns with companies transformation agendas.

The expansion of the EY organizations collaboration with Microsoft follows this years release of more than 20 new major Assurance technology capabilities. This is part of the multi-year EY program to integrate advanced technologies into one seamless platform and drive transformation through the next generation of data access capabilities and advanced analytics; Artificial Intelligence (AI); and an elevated user experience. This transformation is supporting 500000 EY professionals and external users powered by Microsoft Azure.

Marie-Laure Delarue EY Global Vice Chair – Assurance says:
The EY organization has reached the first milestone in a four-year investment program to integrate and transform EY Assurance technology. The EY and Microsoft Alliance is central to this program as the EY organization delivers on its commitment to continuously improve audit quality; drive sustainable long-term value; and facilitate greater confidence among EY stakeholders and the stakeholders of companies served.

The first 12 months of the EY organizations Assurance technology investment has included the release of next generation audit data analytics utilizing Microsoft Power BI. The EY organizations release uses the combined power of EY and Microsoft capabilities which provide agile development and delivery in a unified approach – including Microsoft Fabric. This transforms the user experience and supports the full integration of data analytics capabilities directly into the workflow of the EY Assurance technology platform. EY Assurance teams now process over 775b lines of journal entry data each year as part of the EY digitally transformed audit.

This follows the integration of EY Canvas – the EY organizations audit technology application – with Microsoft Azure which has provided strong performance and extensibility in support of EYs delivery of more than 150000 audits globally. This includes the 99.99% availability of EY Canvas powered by Microsoft Azure in the last 12 months enabling one of the largest business-to-business (B2B) platforms in the profession.

The recent release of new Assurance technology capabilities across the EY organization includes globally scaled AI. These AI enabled capabilities – leveraging publicly available and EY generated data – are directly integrated with EY Canvas to support EY Assurance professionals in assessing risk. The EY organization is also introducing new AI enabled capabilities in predictive analytics; content search and summarization; and document intelligence including financial statement tie-out procedures. Through these developments EY teams have been using Azure Cognitive Services to integrate AI into the audit process.

The EY and Microsoft Alliance additionally provides EY Assurance teams with early access to new Microsoft technologies and the ability to integrate more Microsoft products into the EY Assurance technology platform. This includes the internal EY release of Azure OpenAI Service helping EY professionals to experience the potential of generative AI capabilities; and to benefit from early access to Microsoft 365 Co-Pilot.

Marc Jeschonneck EY Global Assurance Digital Leader says:
EYs investment is facilitating the integration and transformation of data-driven audits and other assurance services powered by the Microsoft Cloud and including the latest Microsoft Power BI capabilities.

Andreas Toggwyler EY Global Assurance Technology Officer says:
Leveraging Microsoft Azure enables EY Assurance to further increase the performance and resilience of EYs Assurance technology platform.

Paul Goodhew EY Global Assurance Innovation Leader says:
EY is accelerating delivery of emerging technologies including artificial intelligence - from ideation to scaled release – through the integration of Microsoft technologies with EYs platform.

Arun Ulagaratchagan Corporate Vice President of Azure Data Microsoft says:
EYs Assurance technology platform powered by the Microsoft Cloud is enabling the transformation of EYs audit and assurance services. Our common aim to advance game changing new technologies including data-driven AI will remain central as we iterate on the next generation of EY and Microsoft technologies.

More information on the EY-Microsoft Alliance can be found here