KPMG premieres monthly close AI assistant

Big Four firm KPMG announced the release of a new AI assistant, Ignite Financial Close Companion, developed in cooperation with Google and HR platform Workday to help with the month-end closing process for legal entity controllers and accounting analysts. 

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“As organizations face pressure for faster, more efficient financial reporting, the need for a streamlined and automated financial close is critical,” said Brian Anderson, Workday platform leader with KPMG, in a statement. “By harnessing the power of Gemini Enterprise and integrating seamlessly with Workday, that the agent directly addresses these challenges and not only enhances efficiency and accuracy but also saves valuable time for accountants. This collaboration allows finance teams to close faster with greater confidence while freeing professionals to focus on higher-impact strategic work.”

Built specifically for finance teams, and integrated directly into the Workday platform, the AI assistant allows users to issue natural language instructions to initiate and execute month‑end close activities. It follows the user’s own month-end checklist to do tasks in a sequence aligned with established protocols. It sports built-in checks within automated workflows to minimize errors and adhere to accounting standards and regulatory requirements. Taking the same financial data that it organizes, the AI is also capable of interpreting results, spotting trends and flagging anomalies for further review. It can apply this same analytical capacity to financial documents as well as trial balances. 

“This is our strategy in motion,” said Webb Armentrout, principal and firm ecosystem lead for KPMG, in a statement. “We are not just advising on AI; we are embedding it into the core of our clients’ operations through our powerful ecosystem.”

The firm also announced that it will be deepening its strategic alliance with Google Cloud just over one year after originally establishing the partnership. The firm is already developing solutions using Gemini Enterprise, including industry-specific AI agents for clients throughout their systems. It is also deploying Gemini Enterprise to over 55,000 of its professionals globally, creating an environment for learning and development. KPMG is also building up its capacity to deploy engineers to clients associated with the firm’s Google Cloud practice to help them implement its AI assets. It is currently looking to hire more.  

“Our clients in regulated industries are eager to embrace AI, and they need a partner who speaks their language and understands their unique risks and responsibilities,” said Mark Shank, Google Cloud platform leader at KPMG, in a statement. “Our alliance with Google Cloud allows us to bring the power of Gemini Enterprise to bear on their most pressing issues. Our own experience has shown us how to deliver trusted, practical AI solutions that are built for the complexities of their world.”