By explicitly calling out Audit, we’re recognizing and serving customers whose needs go well beyond tax compliance. We’re reinforcing our commitment to building audit-specific products, workflows, and expertise that help firms modernize.

Audit isn’t “extra”鈥攊t’s essential

Most firms don’t experience tax, audit, and accounting as separate lanes. They’re connected, year-round workflows that require speed, clarity, and confidence. And in audit, “moving faster” can’t come at the expense of quality. It has to come from better systems: more structured workflows, less manual effort and greater automation.

That’s why audit deserves to be named. Not as a trend鈥攂ut as a clear, long-term commitment to the customers doing this work every day.

How we’re helping audit teams work smarter and faster

抖阴成年 is investing in audit workflow tools and expanding our partner ecosystem so firms can modernize their audit practice with industry-leading AI-powered cloud-based solutions backed by trusted methodology, including:

• : Supports day-to-day audit work by helping teams analyze and review documents, draft workpapers, and keep materials organized in a shared workspace鈥攁imed at making workflows more consistent and reducing time spent on repetitive tasks.

• : Uses automation and AI to speed up transaction analysis, identify items for review, assist with sample selection, and direct attention toward higher-risk areas鈥攕o auditors can spend more time on judgment-heavy work.

• : Helps teams complete testing with less manual work by automating the matching of selected samples to supporting evidence and validating whether the expected amounts were collected, while keeping documentation in the workflow.

• Open ecosystem: Integrations that enhance Guided Assurance (Cloud Audit Suite) with 鈥攑lus a partnership with .

What’s changing鈥攁nd what isn’t

This is a naming update, not an organizational change. There are no changes to roles or structure tied to this announcement. What is changing is the clarity: audit is an intentional focus. You’ll continue to see that reflected in the products, partnerships, and workflows we bring to market.

The bottom line

Audit deserves to be named鈥攂ecause firms deserve tools that help them modernize with confidence. By adding Audit to our name, we’re making a clear commitment to supporting the profession through rapid change. We’re delivering AI-enabled efficiency, grounded in trusted methodology, backed by an ecosystem built for real audit work.

Elizabeth Beastrom is President of Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at 抖阴成年

Tax, Audit and Accounting has always been a profession built on rigor and responsibility. But the reality of running a modern practice is complexity keeps rising, timelines keep tightening, and client expectations keep evolving. Firms are being asked to do more, faster鈥攚ithout compromising quality.

Why this matters for firms

This recognition is not just about a new solution being introduced鈥攊t’s about what firms are prioritizing right now. Across the industry, leaders are focused on creating repeatable capacity鈥攏ot just surviving busy season. They’re prioritizing workflows that are reliable year-round. That means reducing friction in the return process, improving consistency across teams, and ensuring professionals have the time to apply judgment where it matters most.

That’s the lens I bring to . It’s designed to support the parts of the tax return process that can slow teams down, so professionals can stay focused on the work of humans: review, judgment, accountability, and advising clients with confidence.

Restoring time for professional judgment

There’s a lot of discussion about automation and the future of work. What I see in firms today is more practical: talented professionals spending too much time on repetitive steps, and not enough time on review, coaching, and client conversations.

The opportunity here is to shift time back to the professional鈥攕o firms can:

• Strengthen quality and consistency
• Improve responsiveness to clients
• And make the work more sustainable for teams

Honorable Mention: Ready to Advise

Accounting Today also gave an Honorable Mention to , which supports tax planning and advisory services.

That matters because once firms create more capacity, the next question is how to use it. Many firms are looking to grow advisory in a way that’s scalable and consistent 鈥� grounded in strong workflows and clear client outcomes.

Recognition like this is meaningful for us at 抖阴成年. But it’s even more meaningful because it reflects progress our customers can feel. When firms can rely on their technology to create more capacity and consistency in the work, they can serve clients with greater confidence. They can support their teams through peak demand, and make the practice more sustainable. That’s the kind of win we’re focused on: one that strengthens firms and the professionals who power them.

Elizabeth Beastrom is President, Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at 抖阴成年

听

Ready to Review is our new cloud-based, agentic AI tax workflow solution built on CoCounsel. For tax year 2025, it modernizes 1040 tax return preparation. It’s designed to take on the heavy, repetitive work of gathering client documents and preparing returns鈥攕o tax professionals can focus on what drew many of us to this profession in the first place: problem solving, critical thinking, and delivering great counsel to clients.听

For too long, firms have been stuck in a pattern that everyone recognizes as unsustainable鈥攅ver more complex returns, tighter deadlines, and mounting pressure on teams already stretched thin. Busy season has become synonymous with burnout and staffing strain. AI alone won鈥檛 fix that. But AI put to work in the right way鈥攖hrough agentic AI deeply embedded into tax workflows鈥攃an fundamentally change the equation.听

A Better Way Through Busy Season

The goal is not to replace professional judgment, but to clear away the manual, time-consuming tasks that prevent professionals from using that judgment to its fullest. Ready to Review gives firms a single, cloud-based, scalable platform that automates the gather and tax prep stages of the听workflow鈥攈elping firms manage more individual returns with existing staff while听maintaining听quality and control.听

We鈥檙e听already seeing the impact. Indiana-based CLH CPAs & Consultants听participated听in our early adopter program and saw听the potential for听transformative time savings. As Bob Lange, Partner at CLH, told us:听鈥淩educing return preparation time by听approximately an听hour on each simple 1040 is significant in terms of efficiency gains. For firms like ours, these time savings will be a game changer.鈥�听

I鈥檝e听said before that I expect firms will听ultimately pair听each CPA with at least one virtual agent. is a tangible step in that direction. It brings that 1:1 vision closer to reality by embedding Gather and Tax Preparer AI agents directly into the 1040 workflow in a way听that鈥檚听responsible, auditable, and grounded in trusted 抖阴成年 tax content and compliance听expertise.听

The Next Step for 1040 Prep

As solutions like Ready to Review become part of the day-to-day fabric of tax work,听we鈥檒l听see fewer 80-hour听weeks听and more time spent on the nuanced, client-focused work that truly differentiates firms.听We鈥檒l听make room for new talent who are excited about a career that leans into analysis and advisory rather than pure grind.听听

Ready to Review is now generally available in the United States for 1040 use cases, and its launch marks an important milestone in our broader journey with agentic AI on the听 platform.听It鈥檚听one more way听we鈥檙e听helping firms modernize in a way that is practical, grounded, and built for the realities of tax season.听

Elizabeth Beastrom is President of Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at 抖阴成年