XactAudit
The AI for the golden thread in financial statement audits
A dedicated AI-assisted solution for risk-based financial statement audits under ISA 315 that supports audit planning, including risk assessment and documentation, along a consistent “golden thread” and demonstrably increases efficiency and audit quality.
Faster through AI.
Reliable through audit logic.
Controlled by the auditor.
The AI dilemma in auditingCreating efficiency without risking loss of control
Auditors spend a considerable part of their time transferring information from client documents into checklists, questionnaires, risk analyses and audit documentation.
At the same time, AI in the statutory audit must not lead to conclusions that lack a professional basis.
XactAudit deliberately combines both worlds: AI accelerates capture and analysis, while the professional derivation follows a structured, rule-based audit model.
Generative AI
= fast, but unreliable
- Hallucinations
- No traceability
- Inconsistencies
Manual work
= slow, resource-intensive
- Loss of information
- Media breaks
- Inconsistencies
promise:
Speed through AI, but with professional consistency, traceability and audit logic
From client documents to completed audit planningAI extraction plus a professional audit model
With XactAudit, relevant client documents can be analyzed and questionnaires pre-filled automatically. The system flags questions for which matching information was found, shows the AI suggestion and lets the auditor accept, adjust or reject it.
In the next step, an appropriate overall audit strategy and a suitable audit approach are derived on a rule basis under ISA 315. Here, XactAudit helps ensure structural consistency, especially in risk identification and assessment, makes dependencies transparent and documents the auditor's judgment in a traceable way.
At every step, one thing remains clear: the system supports, but the professional evaluation, the exercise of professional judgment and the responsibility for the risk assessment and the audit approach remain with the auditor.
- 01Documents
- 02AI analysis
- 03XactAudit knowledge modelISA 315 logicRule-based, traceable derivation
- 04Audit procedures
The most expensive audit procedureis the unnecessary one
In practice, there is often a strong focus on substantive procedures, while the risk analysis is sometimes not performed and documented to a sufficient extent.
This not only creates the risk of an audit that does not comply with professional standards, but also the danger of permanently needing larger budgets for the same output.
Deriving a standards-compliant, client-specific audit plan is almost impossible without software support. This is exactly where XactAudit helps: relationships become visible and the remaining necessary audit procedures can be derived. This finally makes the ideal audit achievable.
- A
- Identification and assessment of inherent risks
- B
- Assessment of control risk & determination of the risk of material misstatement
- C
- Analytical procedures
- D
- Tests of details
Control-based or substantive: a structured path to the right audit approachXactAudit supports auditors in choosing and implementing the right audit approach.
With a control-based audit approach, XactAudit helps identify relevant controls, define tests of design and operating effectiveness, evaluate effectiveness and assess control risk and the risk of material misstatement.
With a substantive audit approach, XactAudit supports the direct determination of substantive procedures based on the documented risk assessment.
In both cases, the derivation remains transparent, structured and documented in an audit-proof way.
The challenge in practice
The complexity of audit risk shows particularly in its composition:
- The higher the risk of material misstatement, the lower the detection risk must be to achieve an acceptable audit risk of 5%.
- The lower the risk of material misstatement, the higher the detection risk may be.
This means:If the risk of material misstatement is soundly assessed as low, substantive procedures can be reduced without jeopardizing the required audit assurance of 95%.
Optimized guidance through risk-based audit planning
All necessary steps and the current progress are always clearly visible.
Easy completion of questionnaires with AI support
Questionnaires can be completed with AI support based on client documents.
Once the suggestion has been generated, all questions for which a suggestion was found in the documents are flagged and the AI suggestion can be reviewed and accepted.
The financial statement level forms the basis for consistent audit planning
At the financial statement level, risk factors are identified first; from these, a suggested aggregated risk at financial statement level as well as fraud, going concern and management bias risks are derived.
Through deterministic rules, these assessments also feed into the assessment of inherent risks at assertion level.
Standardized and simple assessment of risks at assertion level
Once the risks at assertion level have been identified, the questionnaire based on ISA 315 enables a simple, system-supported assessment.
The results from the financial statement level feed directly into the assessment as suggestions.
In the control-based approach, the auditor is supported by being able to view standard controls that address an identified inherent risk.
XactAudit provides structured support for the control-based audit approach
Targeted and structured support for the auditor in choosing between a control-based and a substantive audit approach.
If the control-based audit approach is chosen, XactAudit helps with the
- identification of relevant controls (rule-based)
- definition of tests of design and operating effectiveness
- evaluation of effectiveness and assessment of both control risk and the risk of material misstatement (rule-based)
If the substantive audit approach is chosen, substantive procedures are determined directly on the premise that inherent risk equals the risk of material misstatement (rule-based).
Derivation of appropriate, client-specific audit responses
Based on the information gathered and the assessments performed, the software recommends a risk of material misstatement for each inherent risk at assertion level. On this basis, XactAudit derives appropriate auditor responses (= substantive procedures) in a structured way, documenting the link between risk analysis and audit strategy.
Throughout, all dependencies remain traceable and documented in an audit-proof way (= golden thread).
Our clientsare already convinced
Significant efficiency gains by scaling the derivation of the audit strategy and focusing on the relevant matters during audit execution.
We were able to take the documentation and clarity of our audit strategy to a new level.
Already in productive use for about 30 of our audit clients and by more than 80 of our staff.
AI for audit planning,but with a professional golden thread
ISA 315 requires not just documentation, but a consistent and traceable link between obtaining an understanding, risk assessment and audit responses.
XactAudit makes this link technically manageable.
The AI supports analysis and pre-filling. The audit model ensures consistency. The auditor stays in control.
XactAudit is the AI for the golden thread in financial statement audits.