SOCPA Forum · Riyadh · 14 May 2026
Workshop · 19:00

Accounting and auditing in the age of AI.

A field map. The tools. The benchmarks. What it means for the profession.

Amr ShadyFounder & CEO · Accord Partners
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Question

How many of you have used ChatGPT or Claude for finance work this week?

Hands up.

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Frame

What you'll get in 45 minutes

Three things, in this order.

01
The capabilities
From ChatGPT in your browser to autonomous coding and audit agents. The layers, and what each one does.
02
The benchmarks
Which models actually win on finance tasks. The numbers, and how to read them.
03
The profession
What changes for the auditor, the student, the firm. Top tips you can use Sunday morning.
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Who we are

A quick note on us

Accord Partners is building the first AI-powered audit firm in MENA.

What we do. We invest in established Saudi audit firms, streamline them using technology, and bring AI to every layer of the practice.
Where we start. Saudi Arabia first, then the wider GCC. Every engagement stays SOCPA-licensed, every file stays in-Kingdom.
The partner remains. The partner keeps signing, keeps owning the relationship, and drives the firm's vision. AI works underneath.
Who is backing us. Raed Ventures, P1 Ventures, DPI Venture Capital, and Foundation Ventures.
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Where the market is

Global · finance & reporting · 2024 → 2027

72% 99%

Companies piloting or using AI in financial reporting today, projected within three years.

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Where Saudi is

Saudi Arabia · the forcing functions

Three reasons Saudi will not wait — and one principle.

Pace of regulatory change. SOCPA has issued 300+ reforms since 2016. ZATCA, CMA and SAMA standards keep moving. Manual compliance gets harder every year.
Age of the population. 63% of Saudis are under 35. The fastest-adopting demographic in the region runs on AI by default. Clients expect their auditors to keep up.
AI championed by government. Vision 2030, HUMAIN, NEOM, SDAIA — the Kingdom is investing at sovereign scale in AI as national infrastructure, not as a tool.
One principle through all of it. Sensible use. Not "use everywhere". Not "use nowhere". The right tool for the right judgment, with a human partner accountable for the answer.
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Section

Part one of three

The capabilities.

Six layers. Each does something the layer below cannot. Each costs more.

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The capability layers

From browser to autonomous agent

Six layers. Pick the right one for the work.

00
Chat in a browser
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini — open the tab, ask the question.
01
Workspace integrations
Claude for Excel, Microsoft Copilot, Sheets Gemini — AI inside the tools you already use.
02
Vertical AI tools
DataSnipper, Trullion, Vic.ai — each built for one audit or finance workflow, deeply.
03
Finance-specific agents
Claude for Financial Services, OpenAI + PwC Agent OS, Thomson Reuters CoCounsel.
04
Autonomous knowledge-work agents
Claude Cowork — the AI reads your files, completes tasks, builds reports. Beyond chat, into action.
05
Proprietary audit platforms
Big 4 platforms, GT's gtap, Accord OS — ground-up, end-to-end, partner in the loop.
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Layer 0 of 6

Layer 00 · Chat in a browser

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.

Open the tab. Paste the question. Read the answer. Frontier reasoning models now pass all three CFA exam levels.

Where it wins

Quick research. Drafting memos. Explaining a standard. Translating jargon. Brainstorming a risk list. Free, or near it.

Where it loses

Hallucinates on numbers. No memory of your client. No access to your working papers. No audit trail. Anything you paste in, leaves your control.

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A real finance question

ChatGPT · audit research in 8 seconds

chatgpt.com
You

Under IFRS 15, when a Saudi construction firm receives a 30% advance for a 3-year project, how do I recognise revenue — input or output method? Cite the standard.

ChatGPT

For long-term construction under IFRS 15, performance obligations are usually satisfied over time (IFRS 15.35), so revenue is recognised using progress measurement — not on cash collection.

The 30% advance is a contract liability until earned (IFRS 15.106).

Method: input method (cost-to-cost) is standard for construction, because outputs are hard to measure mid-project. Output method only fits when milestones are independently verifiable (IFRS 15.B14–B19).

Caveat: verify the contract has no termination clauses that would defeat "over time" criteria. Check IFRS 15.35(c).

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Layer 1 of 6

Layer 01 · Workspace integrations

Claude Plugin for Excel. Microsoft Copilot. Google Sheets Gemini.

AI inside the tool you already work in. Reads your workbook — every tab, every formula dependency — then explains, audits, or updates it with cell-level citations.

Where it wins

Variance analysis. Formula audits across nested tabs. Updating assumptions without breaking dependencies. Multi-tab models built in a single prompt — see next slide.

Where it loses

Audit-grade accountability. Engagement-level memory across files. SOCPA workpaper templates. Still costs ~$20–$30 per user per month on top of Excel.

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Claude Plugin for Excel · live demo

3-year financial model for a fictitious Saudi restaurant chain · 8 tabs · fully formula-linked · built in one prompt

Claude for Excel showing a multi-tab financial model dashboard for Mathaq Foods Co.
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Layer 2 of 6

Layer 02 · Vertical AI tools

DataSnipper. Trullion. Vic.ai.

Software built for one audit or finance workflow, done deeply. The point solutions partners already buy.

Where they win

One job, done deeply. Sample testing. IFRS 15 revenue recognition. AP automation. Bought and bolted in within days, not months.

Where they lose

Each tool sees only its slice. Three vendors. Three contracts. Three logins. No shared memory of your engagement. Arabic and SOCPA workpaper support are thin to zero.

DataSnipper
Excel-native audit automation. Disclosure + Excel Agents with Microsoft (Oct 2025).
$1B valuation
Trullion
IFRS 15 revenue + IFRS 16 lease automation. Contracts to journal entries.
$34M raised
Vic.ai · AppZen
Autonomous AP and expense audit. AppZen claims 87% autonomous processing.
Production
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DataSnipper

Layer 02 · Vertical AI tools · in production today

DataSnipper website hero: The Agentic Platform for Audit and Finance. DataSnipper's agents handle the testing. Your team reviews and approves.
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Trullion

Layer 02 · Vertical AI tools · in production today

Trullion website hero: Auditable AI Built for Accounting. Trullion is the AI-powered accounting platform that automates financial workflows for accounting and audit teams.
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Vic.ai

Layer 02 · Vertical AI tools · in production today

Vic.ai website hero: AP automation, reimagined. Cut costs, improve accuracy, and scale smarter with AI-first accounting.
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Layer 3 of 6

Layer 03 · Finance-specific agents

Claude for Financial Services. OpenAI + PwC. Thomson Reuters CoCounsel.

Purpose-built for finance. Trained on filings. Connected to authoritative content (FASB, IFRS, IRS, ZATCA when ready).

Anthropic — Claude for Financial Services
Pitchbooks, regulatory filings, financial models, valuations. Moody's integrated. PwC Agent OS uses Claude.
Vertical launch · late 2025
OpenAI + PwC CFO Partnership
AI-native finance function. OpenAI's own CFO is "customer zero." Forecasting, controls, reporting via agents.
Announced May 2026
Thomson Reuters CoCounsel
AICPA, FASB, GASB, IFRS content baked in. 1M+ users by Feb 2026. Tax + audit + accounting workflows.
Production · 1M users
Wolters Kluwer CCH Axcess Expert AI
Embedded in CCH Axcess cloud. Audit Suite version GA Oct 2025. Tax research and audit documentation.
GA October 2025
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Layer 4 of 6

Layer 04 · Autonomous knowledge-work agents

Claude Cowork.

The AI no longer just answers — it works. You point it at a folder, give it a brief, and it reads, organises, drafts, and produces the file. Word documents, PDFs, Excel models, working papers — generated on your machine, with you in the loop.

Where it wins

Reads your local files, your client folders, your draft working papers. Drafts reports, reconciliations, memos. Connects to Box, DocuSign, CoCounsel, Harvey. Built for non-technical work — no code required.

Where it loses

Newer than the coding agents. Permission boundaries still being learned. Best for tasks where you can verify the output. Not yet a substitute for a partner's review.

For advanced users: Claude Code and OpenAI Codex remain the heavy-duty coding agents. Cursor and Replit are excellent for building dashboards and interactive experiences for your customers and internal teams.

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Layer 5 of 6

Layer 05 · Proprietary audit platforms

Built ground-up. Owned by the firm. Not for sale.

Every serious audit firm is now building, not buying. The leaders set the pace; we are doing it for Saudi.

EY
Canvas · Helix · Atlas
1.4T journal entries/yr. Agentic rollout to 160,000 engagements (Apr 2026).
KPMG
Clara
Global audit platform. Microsoft Copilot firm-wide. ~$1B five-year AI program.
Deloitte
Omnia · Athena
Audit workflow platform plus an agentic tax model (Athena, 2026).
Grant Thornton
gtap · launched 7 May 2026
Brand-new. Cloud-based, ERP-agnostic, agentic from day one. Public companies next year.
Accord Partners
Accord OS
The Saudi answer. Reads Arabic working papers. SOCPA-aware. Partner in the loop.
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Inside a proprietary platform

Inside Accord OS

Workflows plus agents. Both, not either.

Accord OS has two halves. One half is the engine. The other half is the team.

Half 01
The workflow plane
Ingests data, streamlines files using technology, runs audit logic, records every step. The system of record — predictable, fast, auditable.
×
Half 02
Named agents on top
Each agent has a role, a brief, a memory. Durra works as an AI Managing Director at one of our partner audit firms today. The agents talk to the workflow plane and to each other.

Workflow without agents is software. Agents without a workflow are toys. Combined, they are the next-generation audit and accounting firm.

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The agent roster

Named roles. Real engagements.

Four agents we run today. Each does the work of a person.

AI Managing Director · "Durra"
The engagement lead
Reads the whole engagement: scope, timeline, risk, partner notes. Coordinates the rest of the agents. Drafts the management letter. Flags what the partner must decide. Live today at one Saudi firm.
AI Audit Manager
Working paper reviewer
Reads every working paper. Cross-checks figures against the trial balance, the GL, and source documents. Tags inconsistencies in plain language. The first reviewer, not the last.
AI Bookkeeper
The monthly close
Codes transactions, reconciles bank statements, prepares the monthly close. Knows the client's chart of accounts. Talks to the client directly when something is missing.
AI Zakat & Tax Specialist
ZATCA-native compliance
Computes Zakat and CIT splits. Reads the latest ZATCA circulars. Drafts the return for human review. Flags reverse-charge, withholding and related-party items. Built for Saudi rules, not adapted from US ones.
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Section

Part two of three

The benchmarks.

Hard numbers. Which models actually win, on which finance task.

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The headline number

Chartered Financial Analyst exam · Dec 2025

All 3

CFA Levels I, II and III — passed by frontier reasoning models. Some clear all three with near-perfect scores.

Human CFA Level III pass rate: 56%. AI completed Level III essays in minutes. Source: Columbia / RPI / UNC, December 2025. Models tested: OpenAI o4-mini, Google Gemini 2.5 Pro, Anthropic Claude Opus 4.

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Finance benchmark leaderboard

May 2026 · Public benchmarks

Different tasks. Different winners.

TaskWinnerScoreRunner-upScoreHuman
FinanceBench (10-K Q&A)OpenAI o3~90%GPT-5~88%
Finance Agent (analyst tasks)Claude Opus 4.764.4%Claude Sonnet 4.663.3%
FinQA (table reasoning)Fin-R1*76.0%GPT-4.1~68%91%
CFA Level IGemini 3.0 Pro97.6%GPT-596.1%43% pass
CFA Level III essayGemini 3.0 Pro92.0%Claude Opus~75%56% pass
DocVQA (document images)Claude Opus 4.793.8%GPT-5.491.1%~95%
Arabic reasoning (MMMLU)Claude Mythos92.7%Gemini 3.1 Pro~91%

*Fin-R1 = open-source finance reasoning model (Alibaba). All other rows are general-purpose frontier models. Scores from Vals AI, awesomeagents.ai, arxiv:2512.08270, MindStudio (May 2026).

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Three patterns from the data

What the benchmarks tell us

Three patterns. Each changes how you should staff.

Frontier models beat humans on closed-form exams. CFA, MMLU, document QA. The certification gap is closed.
Agents still cap at 64% on real analyst work. The Finance Agent benchmark — with tools — peaks at Claude Opus 4.7. Complex modeling remains human.
Arabic finance has no published benchmark. Zero. This is the trust gap for any Saudi audit firm deploying AI on Saudi-client work.
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When to use which model

A practical cheat sheet

Pick the model that fits the job.

If you need to…UseWhy it wins
Research a standard, draft a memo, translate jargonClaude Opus 4.7 · GPT-5.5Best at long-form reasoning and clear English/Arabic writing.
Ask questions of a 10-K, audited financials, ZATCA filingOpenAI o3 · GPT-5Top of FinanceBench for filings Q&A. Strong citation discipline.
Audit a workbook — formulas, tabs, dependenciesClaude Plugin for ExcelReads multi-tab workbooks with cell-level citations.
Read scanned working papers, invoices, contractsClaude Opus 4.7Best on document images and OCR (DocVQA 93.8%).
Study for the CPA, CFA, SOCPA, ACCA examGemini 3.0 ProHighest scores on certification exams across the board.
Work in Arabic — explain, summarise, draftClaude (latest) · Gemini 3.xBest Arabic reasoning today. Still verify numbers.
Production audit work on a client engagementProprietary platformNone of the above alone. You need workflow + audit trail + partner sign-off.

Rule of thumb: open with the cheapest model that fits, escalate if the answer feels thin. Always cross-check numbers against the source.

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Section

Part three of three

What this means for the profession.

The shape of the next decade. What students must learn. What practitioners must do this quarter.

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The decade ahead

Three forces, one profession

The numbers are not subtle.

600k
Fewer bookkeeping & audit clerk jobs by 2030
World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025. The roles that automate first are the ones a junior used to do.
1 in 3
Finance staff will share their job with an AI by 2029
Gartner, presented at AICPA conference. Job titles already in the market: "AI-Augmented Auditor", "Tax Reviewer + AI Specialist".
Up
Audit complexity, every year, in every direction
Pillar Two minimum tax. ZATCA Phase 2. ESG disclosure. AI governance. Regulators have made one thing clear: humans stay responsible.
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The auditor's day in 2028

What goes to AI · what stays human

Your day rearranges. The job does not disappear.

What AI takes over
→ AI Building working papers from raw source documents
→ AI Sample selection, journal-entry testing, reconciliations
→ AI Drafting memos, management letters, first-pass findings
→ AI Standards research and regulatory citation lookup
→ AI Routine tax computations, return drafting, e-invoice review
What stays human
Human Professional skepticism — sensing when an explanation is too clean
Human Materiality judgment — what matters for this client, this year
Human The client conversation that changes a disclosure
Human Signing the audit report. Standing behind it before regulators.
Human Designing what the AI does — and reviewing what it produced

The bar moves up. Junior typing becomes senior judgment. The work is more intellectually demanding, not less.

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For students & early-career

If you are starting out · 5 tips

Your career does not shrink. It shifts.

Use AI for every standard you read. Ask it to explain, then ask it for the edge cases. You will study faster and remember more.
Learn to question an AI output. Catching a hallucination on a real number is the new audit skill. Practise it on small things first.
Master one model deeply, then sample others. Don't bounce between five tools. Pick one as your default and learn its limits.
Show your work. When you use AI on a deliverable, say so and show how. Hiring managers in 2026 reward this, not penalise it.
We hire SOCPA candidates who are AI-curious. If that is you, find me after.
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For partners & firm owners

If you run a firm · 4 tips

Modernising alone is harder than modernising with us.

Standardise before you automate. Pick the messiest workflow in the firm and clean it up first. The AI will not stick on a broken process.
Buy the cheap tools yourself, today. A Claude or ChatGPT seat for every senior is the easiest ROI in your firm. Start there.
Do not build your own platform. The Big 4 + GT have spent $1B+ each. The capital, the platform, the playbook — we have built it. You do not need to.
We are talking to Saudi firms quietly. If that includes you, talk to us after.
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Open floor

Now

Questions.

Your questions are usually smarter than my answers.

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One last number

Before we end

Three years from now, 99 of every 100 companies will be using AI in financial reporting.

The question is not whether the audit and accounting profession changes. The question is who is ready for the profession that comes next.

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Thank you · شكراً لكم

Tools change.
Trust does not.

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