KPMG says IBM Watson deal will 'help not replace' accountants

KPMG will hold a series of workshops over the next few months with IBM Watson staff to work out how to use the artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to carry out this new type of audit. "No-one knows exactly what the audit of the future will look like, but you can be sure it will involve two things - bright human beings and cognitive technology," said Duncan McLennan, the firm's national managing partner of audit. "Cognitive enables greater collaboration between humans and systems - so while it's a game-changer for audit in terms of depth of analysis, it will still require insights from talented people. We're being helped, not replaced."