Is your staff using AI?
Unlock the Future of Finance and Auditing with the “Is Your Staff Using AI?” CPE Training Event — a 2-hour interactive seminar designed for finance professionals, internal auditors, compliance leaders, and audit managers.
This results-driven session delivers the essential knowledge and hands-on guidance to harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) — including ChatGPT, Copilot, Jasper, and other cutting-edge desktop AI tools. Learn how to modernize financial analysis, improve audit accuracy, strengthen compliance, and make smarter decisions through actionable AI insights.
Earn NASBA-approved 2 CPE credits and ensure your team stays future-ready in a rapidly evolving digital environment.
Why Attend
Discover the Transformative Power of AI Across the Finance Function and Internal Auditing
From forecasting and variance analysis to risk identification and reporting, AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot automate repetitive tasks, reveal patterns, and generate real-time insights — enhancing both audit quality and financial decision-making.
Enhance Efficiency and Reduce Risk
Revolutionize your team’s workflow by using AI to analyze massive data sets, identify anomalies, and generate insights faster — reducing manual effort, error rates, and operational risk.
Earn 2 CPE Credits
Build your professional credentials with verified training that positions you as a forward-thinking leader integrating AI into daily financial and audit processes.
Strengthen Ethical and Critical Thinking Skills
Learn to balance AI’s analytical power with human oversight, ensuring your work remains compliant, transparent, and ethically sound.
What You’ll Learn: The AI Advantage for Finance and Auditing
This interactive seminar equips participants with actionable, real-world techniques to apply AI in their financial, audit, and compliance workflows.
1. Introduction to Desktop AI for Finance & Auditing
Understand the fundamentals of AI tools such as ChatGPT, Jasper, and Copilot.
Explore how these technologies improve financial reporting, compliance reviews, and audit analytics.
2. Best Practices for AI Integration
Learn methods to embed AI seamlessly into audit planning, FP&A, and operational review processes.
Use AI to accelerate project management, data analysis, and decision-making.
3. Mitigating AI Risks While Maintaining Compliance
Identify and manage AI-related risks, including bias, misinformation, and data exposure.
Learn to comply with ethical standards and regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX.
4. Practical AI Applications Across Teams
Review real-life examples of AI in financial forecasting, internal audit reporting, and fraud detection.
Practice using AI to enhance data interpretation, risk scoring, and policy alignment.
5. Enhancing Collaboration and Communication
Use AI to streamline financial and audit reporting, create executive summaries, and simplify collaboration across teams.
Benefits of Attending
Boost Efficiency: Automate routine finance and audit activities, freeing time for strategic analysis.
Enhance Decision-Making: Leverage AI-powered insights for faster, data-driven business and audit decisions.
Improve Reporting Accuracy: Use AI to improve the clarity, precision, and consistency of financial and audit reports.
Advance Your Career: Stand out as a professional who integrates AI responsibly and strategically into organizational processes.
Who Should Attend
This course is ideal for professionals in finance, internal audit, and compliance who are ready to leverage AI to transform their daily work.
Finance Professionals: Use AI to improve forecasting, reporting, variance analysis, and financial insight.
Internal Auditors: Strengthen audit planning, execution, and reporting with AI-driven tools.
Compliance Professionals: Ensure regulatory adherence while automating monitoring and analysis.
Audit & Finance Leaders: Introduce your teams to practical AI applications that enhance productivity and accuracy.
Why AI Matters in Finance and Auditing
AI is transforming how financial and audit professionals work — offering faster, more reliable analysis of large data sets.
Tools like ChatGPT provide real-time automation for reconciliations, control testing, and risk assessment, allowing professionals to focus on strategic oversight rather than routine processing.
By adopting AI responsibly, organizations can:
Optimize workflows through automation and predictive analytics.
Improve data-driven decision-making and accuracy.
Strengthen compliance and governance frameworks through continuous monitoring.
Don’t let your team fall behind in the age of intelligent automation.
Join the “Is Your Staff Using AI?” CPE Training Event and discover how to use AI to enhance accuracy, efficiency, and insight across both finance and audit functions.
Earn 2 NASBA-approved CPE credits and gain the knowledge and confidence to implement AI tools strategically and ethically.
Details on Event Presentation
Offered every eight weeks on Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Central Time in two CPE-Credit event.
We can schedule private events on your timetable for two or more attendees.
CPE Event Highlights
The CPE training event focused on the practical application of artificial intelligence (AI) within the audit and finance functions. The program equipped participants with essential knowledge and hands-on strategies for responsibly incorporating AI tools—such as ChatGPT and other desktop AI applications—into their daily professional work.
The event addressed key topics designed to enhance understanding, strengthen ethical awareness, and improve the integration of AI across financial and auditing processes.
Highlights included:
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Participants were welcomed with an overview of the event’s objectives, emphasizing how AI is transforming auditing and financial management by improving accuracy, efficiency, and decision quality.
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The fundamentals of AI were explained, including how AI tools function, their capabilities, and their limitations within financial analysis and audit testing.
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Ethical considerations, data bias, and potential risks associated with AI models were explored, with emphasis on maintaining transparency, accountability, and responsible use.
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Practical guidelines were presented for integrating AI effectively into both audit processes and finance workflows, including reporting, risk assessment, forecasting, and variance analysis.
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Participants learned strategies for researching and critically evaluating AI-generated information to ensure accuracy, reliability, and professional validity.
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Guidance was provided on compliance with professional standards, internal control frameworks, data privacy regulations, and confidentiality requirements.
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Real-world examples demonstrated how AI can enhance audit and finance activities such as data analytics, fraud detection, risk assessment, financial modeling, and report drafting.
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Case studies and lessons learned from actual audit and finance engagements using AI highlighted both successful practices and common implementation challenges.
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The importance of maintaining critical thinking, professional skepticism, and independent judgment when using AI-generated outputs was strongly reinforced.
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Participants received direction on when and how to validate AI findings through independent verification and corroborating research.
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Risks involving AI misuse, overreliance, and data exposure were examined, with discussion on strategies to mitigate those risks across both audit and finance operations.
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The session underscored the significance of data security, confidentiality, and protection of sensitive information while utilizing AI tools.
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Internal controls and quality assurance measures for managing and monitoring AI use—particularly ChatGPT—within the audit and finance functions were reviewed.
The event concluded by emphasizing that AI is a tool for enhancement, not replacement. Each organization should adapt its use of AI to its operational goals, risk appetite, and control environment, ensuring that auditors and finance professionals continue to apply sound reasoning, ethical oversight, and independent professional judgment in all AI-assisted activities.
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Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives for the CPE Event:
- Understand the fundamentals of desktop AI
- Comprehend the limitations and risks of using AI
- Explore best practices for integrating AI into the finance and audit processes
- Enhance critical thinking skills and independent judgment
- Manage risks and ensure compliance
- Learn from real-life case studies and practical applications
- Foster a culture of continuous learning and professional development
- Explore the potential benefits and considerations of desktop AI usage in the audit profession.
Key Issues on the Agenda
Enhancing Finance and Audits with AI-Powered Tools
Presented by: John C. Blackshire, Jr., Retired CPA
Co-Founder, Corporate Compliance Seminars
Contact: johnb@cseminars.comOverview of AI in Finance and Internal Audits
What is Internal Auditing?
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Definition: An independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve operations.
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Mission: Enhance and protect organizational value through risk-based assurance, advice, and insight.
What is the Finance Function?
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Definition: The set of processes that support financial planning, reporting, analysis, and control.
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Objective: Deliver accurate insights and ensure sound stewardship of organizational resources.
What is AI?
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Definition: Technology enabling machines to perform cognitive functions such as learning, reasoning, and problem-solving.
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Applications: Tools like ChatGPT and Bing Chat can summarize complex financial and audit data, identify trends, and automate repetitive tasks with remarkable speed and precision.
Generative AI:
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Learns from data patterns to produce flexible, probabilistic outputs.
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Supports document review, policy comparison, forecasting, and anomaly detection for both auditors and finance professionals.
Section 1: AI Tools for Finance and Auditors
Key Tools Revolutionizing Finance and Auditing:
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Natural Language Processing (NLP): ChatGPT, Jasper — for report writing, policy analysis, and narrative generation.
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Machine Learning Platforms: SAS Analytics, RapidMiner — for predictive insights, forecasting, and anomaly detection.
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Robotic Process Automation (RPA): Automates reconciliations, data aggregation, and compliance checks.
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Fraud Detection Tools: ACL Robotics — for real-time transaction monitoring and exception reporting.
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Compliance Platforms: LogicGate — for regulatory alignment and control documentation.
Practical Applications:
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Use AI to analyze financial data and generate audit objectives or variance insights.
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Streamline documentation, strengthen controls, and accelerate financial reporting.
Section 2: Integrating AI into Audit and Finance Processes
Audit Planning and Financial Analysis:
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Use ChatGPT to:
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Define audit and financial review objectives.
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Conduct preliminary research and identify emerging risks.
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Evaluate scenarios and forecast impacts using AI-driven data models.
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Audit Fieldwork and Financial Operations:
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Generate random samples or transaction sets for testing.
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Use AI to detect anomalies, visualize trends, and identify unusual transactions or variances.
Audit and Financial Reporting:
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Automate report drafting, formatting, and variance commentary.
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Use AI to highlight control weaknesses, outliers, and opportunities for efficiency.
Follow-Up and Monitoring:
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Apply AI to re-test remediated controls, monitor risk indicators, and track key performance metrics.
Section 3: Advantages and Limitations of AI Tools
Advantages:
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Reduces manual work and improves productivity.
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Provides consistent support for data-driven tasks and analysis.
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Increases accuracy, speed, and scalability across audit and finance activities.
Limitations:
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Can generate incomplete or misleading information if prompts are vague.
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Requires human oversight to identify bias or contextual errors.
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May be misused for unverified conclusions or overreliance on automation.
Ethical Considerations:
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Maintain transparency, explainability, and accountability in all AI use.
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Ensure compliance with data privacy and confidentiality standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOX).
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Preserve professional judgment for decision-making and reporting.
Section 4: Practical AI Use Cases
Examples:
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Drafting internal audit and finance plans tailored to business needs.
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Reviewing compliance documentation and financial policies for regulatory accuracy.
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Benchmarking internal controls and KPIs against industry standards.
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Automating risk assessments, forecasts, and reconciliation reviews.
Case Study:
ChatGPT-Generated Audit and Finance Objectives for an Ethics Hotline Evaluation:-
Evaluate accessibility, policy alignment, reporting mechanisms, and escalation procedures.
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Recommend process improvements based on industry best practices.
Section 5: The Future of AI in Auditing and Finance
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Continuous Learning: AI systems evolve through user input and adaptive modeling.
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Advanced Capabilities: Integration with multimodal tools for text, numeric, and image analysis.
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Ethical AI Development: Build governance frameworks that prioritize responsible and explainable AI use.
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NASBA Program Disclosure
Program Level of Understanding: Intermediate - Advanced
Prerequisites: None
Advance Preparation: None
Delivery Format: On-site Training (Group-Live); Seminar (Group-Live)
NASBA Field(s) of Study: Auditing
CPE Credits: 2, based on 50 minutes of instruction per hour
Summary of the Subject Matter
How Auditors and Finance Professionals Can Utilize AI in Daily Work
1. Research and Information Gathering
AI tools can rapidly retrieve relevant information, definitions, regulatory updates, or industry standards. They support both auditors and finance professionals in conducting preliminary research, reviewing emerging guidance, and understanding complex accounting or compliance requirements. This capability saves time and ensures access to current, authoritative information during planning, analysis, or reporting.2. Scenario Analysis and Risk Assessment
AI can assist in performing scenario analyses and evaluating risks by modeling potential outcomes based on user inputs. For auditors, this means identifying control weaknesses or operational risks. For finance teams, it enables forecasting, sensitivity analysis, and evaluating the financial impact of various scenarios—leading to more informed, data-driven decisions.3. Documentation, Analysis, and Report Writing
AI tools can generate clear, well-organized documentation and assist in drafting reports, management summaries, or variance analyses. They can suggest templates, streamline formatting, and improve language clarity. This helps both auditors and finance professionals enhance reporting quality and consistency while maintaining compliance with internal and external standards.4. Professional Development and Training
AI can function as an on-demand learning resource, helping professionals stay current with auditing standards, accounting principles, and regulatory updates. It can also provide CPE guidance, deliver practical examples, and support internal training by offering tailored explanations and case studies for developing critical thinking and technical expertise.Important Reminder
While AI provides valuable support, it must not replace professional skepticism, independent judgment, or verification procedures. Both auditors and finance professionals should use AI responsibly—validating outputs, applying expertise, and ensuring all results align with recognized professional standards and organizational requirements.