aaff trained its entire audit team on RobotX in a single Summer School, and within the first full month the whole audit team was running live client files in RobotX.

Results at a glance

What aaff's audit team has done on RobotX in its first months live:

• Whole audit team trained in a tailored RobotX Summer School: one firm-wide session, then three groups working real client files.

• Firm-wide adoption across the audit team within the first full month after training.

• Flex and Flow now run the large majority of aaff's substantive testing.

• More than 14,000 documents processed.

• A RobotX design partner beyond daily use: helping shape the RobotX tooling.

About aaff

aaff is one of the larger audit firms in the Netherlands, with an ownership structure unlike most of its peers and a leading position in the agricultural sector. It's also known for pushing innovation in audit, and its leadership uses the technology it talks about. The firm was formed from the merger of ABAB and Alfa Accountants and Advisors, and its registered accountants carry out statutory audits under AFM supervision. More on aaff is at aaff.nl/audit.

Why they chose RobotX

For aaff, this started with the relationship. They already knew the RobotX team and trusted them to run the change at the firm's pace. Adoption was easy because Flex lives inside Excel, where auditors already work, with the AI built in, so there was nothing extra to buy or switch on. And aaff wanted to help shape where audit is heading, and saw RobotX as the partner to do it with.

"We've never wanted to be a firm that waits to see where audit technology goes," says Max Platvoet, Senior Director Audit at aaff. "With RobotX we help steer it: we tell them what works in our files and what doesn't, and we see that feedback come back in the product. It feels less like buying software and more like building it together."

From training to live files

RobotX built a version of its "gearing up" summer course specifically for aaff's audit team, and ran it inside aaff's own Summer School, the firm's annual internal training. The whole audit team took part. After a general session together, the team split into three groups and worked real case files through RobotX, each session built around what matters at that level. Juniors focused on preparing work with AI, and seniors on reviewing work prepared with AI. Chris and Florian from RobotX led those groups.

Two products are in place: Flex and Flow. Flex puts RobotX's audit AI directly in Excel, for the ad-hoc procedures and checks a team runs day to day, with AI as standard and every result traced back to its source document. Flow takes standard tests of details off the team and returns a working paper documented in accordance with ISA 230. That saves preparation time and raises the quality and consistency of the audit documentation.

"It's faster, but the bigger gain for us is quality. Every result traces back to its source document, and every working paper is documented the same way, so our reviewers can see how each conclusion was reached."

Max Platvoet, Senior Director Audit at aaff

What changed after

The team went from a training room to live files inside a month. In the first full month after the Summer School, the whole audit team was working in RobotX, and it quickly became how the firm runs its substantive testing. That was also aaff's busiest month for testing on the platform.

"We did the training in the summer, and a month later the whole team was working on live client files in RobotX," says Platvoet. "I've been through a lot of software rollouts and this was by far the quickest. Within a few weeks nobody saw it as a new tool anymore. It was just part of the job."

By now, Flex and Flow carry the large majority of aaff's substantive testing. More than 14,000 documents have gone through the platform.

"Flex and Flow now run most of our substantive testing. For our people, it's just how the work gets done now."

Max Platvoet, Senior Director Audit at aaff

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