AI for Services: Accountancy Matchmaking Event
Start-ups and innovative SMEs are invited to meet major accountancy firms in an evening of facilitated virtual speed networking.
AI for Services, in partnership with Early Metrics, is hosting an exclusive Accountancy Tech Matchmaking event online on Thursday, 19 November. This session will offer innovative AI & Data start-ups the opportunity to meet leading accountancy firms to help them solve their R&D challenges. Confirmed participants include BDO, Capgemini, Government Internal Audit Agency, KPMG and Moore Kingston Smith.
Up to 20 of the most innovative companies who apply to attend will be invited to meet with established accountancy firms for an evening of facilitated virtual networking.
If you are a startup or SME interested in attending, please complete the application form Friday 6th November. You will be notified of the outcome by Tuesday 10th November.
Before submitting your application, please read the background information below and ensure you answer the questions in full. Applicants will be selected based on their level of innovation and ability to solve the partners’ challenges (available below).
Event format
The event format has been designed to connect entrepreneurs with potential clients and collaborators through a series of rapid ‘speed dating’ style sessions, which may lead to successful commercial relationships. Digital innovator attendees will sequentially meet each firm for strictly seven minutes for a one-to-one conversation or pitch.
Challenge Statements
BDO and their clients are facing new challenges with interacting with each other during an era of remote working and less face to face meetings. Help BDO colleagues and 10,000’s of client interact better, safer and more efficiently, without losing the individuality and character that makes BDO so different as a professional services firm.
The Government Internal Audit Agency is interested in using Artificial Intelligence, or other technologies, to identify trends in managing risk. The AI will need to analyse text based reports and should be able to identify examples of “good” and “not so good” controls in managing risk in areas such as financial management and cyber security.
Capgemini Public Sector clients would be interested in innovative digital technology solutions to improve financial accounting processes, particularly to better manage fixed assets and manual journal entries. How can they drive greater efficiency, effectiveness and productivity by using innovative technologies such as AI, predictive analytics and intelligent automation?
KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. Both their Financial Audit Analytics and Accounting Advisory teams will participate in the event bringing different challenges. The Accounting Advisory team is looking at ways to make guidance documents more accessible and easily available. Guidance documents (e.g. accounting manual, chart of accounts, process manual) are usually stored as word/pdf documents on the intranet/SharePoint and in many instances, users rely on help from senior colleagues to access the information they need contained in these documents. The Financial Audit team collects large volumes of financial / accounting data to create descriptive analysis. They are interested in AI solutions that could support its creation and augment the auditor’s job, for example identifying potential risks or suggesting the auditor’s next course of action. They are also looking at intelligent automation solutions for external audit purposes where large volumes of unstructured data are obtained such as contracts and leases. Finally they are looking at ways to leverage internal and external data sources to help auditors better assess risk and make better predictions.
Moore Kingston Smith is a dynamic, leading UK firm of accountants and business advisers. We have been helping clients thrive since 1923. As trusted advisors we work closely with our clients to help them strategize and we believe that predictive and prescriptive analytics should play a key part in scenario planning as businesses navigate through the uncertainty created by current trading conditions. We are interested in technology that can be applied to our rich structured data sets that can be used to help businesses run multiple scenarios. These scenarios would be used to enhance financial planning and analysis (FP&A) models and evaluate all the possible actions that management can take—thereby allowing for unbiased critical investment and allocation decisions.
PwC is a multinational professional services firm, ranking as one of the largest in the world. To achieve our aim to be recognised as the ‘the leading professional services firm’ we must be innovative and attract outstanding people and ways of working. Some of our key priorities to do so is to be technology enabled and deliver exceptional value to our clients. We are always looking for innovative ways in which we can help our clients integrate systems to improve their ways of working.The PwC Raise Ventures team is specifically searching for innovative tech scale-ups who are wanting to raise Series A venture funding. We work with scale-ups who are growing fast and approaching £80k MRR and beyond to raise institutional funding
Other firms challenges to be updated soon!