When RobotX founder Robert Hyde started building audit automation software in 2017, he was solving a problem he had lived firsthand. Working in accountancy, he watched firms send repetitive audit work offshore — sample testing, document matching, workpaper population — in search of lower costs. The economics looked reasonable on paper. The reality rarely matched.

“The pain points like turnaround time and quality were not solved. I also did not see that the people doing that work were particularly happy with it. Outsourcing was not a future-proof solution That is where the idea of RobotX came from.” — Robert Hyde, Founder, RobotX 

His answer was RobotX: an execution layer for the audit that automates the structured, rules-based work that absorbs junior auditors’ time — without removing the professional judgment that makes an audit worth having. We see ourselves as a kind of execution layer of the audit, built to take the repetitive work out of the process so that accountants can focus on what is meaningful. 

Today, after years of partnership and co-development, RobotX is deployed across multiple countries in the BDO network. This is the story of how that happened. 

A Shared Vision, From Day One 

In 2018, Leon Jansen — then head of BDO Netherlands’ audit practice, now CFO/COO and a member of BDO Nederland’s board — was asking the same questions from the other side of the table. BDO had already run an internal pilot using machine learning to automate audit procedures. It worked. The question was whether to build it out internally or find a partner who spoke the same language. 

Via a mutual contact, Jansen and Hyde connected. The result was immediate. 

“There was an immediate click. We had a shared vision, and that gave mutual trust.” 

— Leon Jansen, CFO/COO and Board Member, BDO Nederland 

What stood out to Hyde was what that partnership asked of BDO. In 2018, audit automation was far from a settled idea. Most firms had little visibility into what it could reliably deliver. 

“Nowadays everyone has a sense of what automation can do. In 2018 it was still a black box. There was real courage in BDO’s mindset to commit to a different way of working — and to invest with us from those earliest days to take the product forward.” 

— Robert Hyde, Founder, RobotX 

Built Together, Not Just Used 

From the outset, BDO’s role was not simply that of a customer. They became active co-developers — bringing audit expertise, compliance requirements, and real-world operational feedback directly into the RobotX product roadmap. 

That structure was a deliberate strategic choice on BDO’s part. Jansen explains: 

“We became a client, but we wanted RobotX to be an open platform that other firms could also use. Because if you want to innovate and keep developing, you need acceleration. With only our input, the growth of RobotX would remain too limited — which was not desirable for either of us. It was a strategic choice for BDO to shape the partnership that way.” 

— Leon Jansen, CFO/COO and Board Member, BDO Nederland 

That openness has been foundational to how RobotX has developed. The platform works the way auditors actually work — not because we assumed we knew, but because BDO told us, tested alongside us, and held us to standards that mattered. 

Central among those standards: reliability. Audit work demands that every output can be traced back to its source. Jansen is clear: “When AI is used, we need to know it happens in a reliable and reproducible way.” Hyde agrees, and has built the platform around exactly that principle. 

“Being able to establish where a result comes from is central to everything we build. You must always be able to go back to the source. We use a hybrid model — agentic AI combined with code-defined procedures — precisely to guarantee that traceability. Quality is also well ensured by defining things in code. That combination is how we guarantee quality.” 

— Robert Hyde, Founder, RobotX 

The result is a platform that produces ISA 230-compliant workpapers where every finding is linked to its source document, every result is reproducible, and an audit file filled with RobotX-generated work can stand up to the most rigorous scrutiny. 

What It Looks Like on the Ground 

For Joost Lepoutre, Junior Manager at BDO’s Eindhoven office, RobotX is simply how he does his job. He uses it every day. 

The contrast with how things worked before is stark. Jansen puts it plainly: 

"Imagine you are an assistant in the audit team and need to draw a sample. That means looking at a number of sales transactions and verifying the trail from order, delivery, invoice, to payment. You request order forms, invoices, and bank statements from the client. That used to go into a spreadsheet, where you manually checked everything against the workpaper. Now the documents go into RobotX, you indicate what you want to check, and in no time there is a completed workpaper — with substantiations and findings — ready to review.” 

— Leon Jansen, CFO/COO and Board Member, BDO Nederland 

For Lepoutre, the shift goes deeper than speed. Technology that does not show its working is not useful in a regulated profession. RobotX was built with that in mind. 

“RobotX is the perfect example of how technology supports our work — not replaces it. It supports our judgment, not substitutes for it. RobotX shows immediately on what basis it displays results and what documentation is behind them. Everything is reproducible. As an accountant you can easily review it. You remain the one who forms the opinion.”

— Joost Lepoutre, Junior Manager Audit & Assurance, BDO Nederland 

The time freed up by automation does not disappear into efficiency gains. It goes back into the audit. 

“Because the repetitive work is taken off my hands, I can look much more closely at the findings and the conclusions they lead to. You think more deeply about what it means for the audit. That benefits quality. And for me personally, it is also more interesting work.” 

— Joost Lepoutre, Junior Manager Audit & Assurance, BDO Nederland 

Clients notice the difference too — not just in speed, but in how the audit feels as a collaboration. 

“With RobotX we share the output directly with clients and annotate it together. Clients can respond and add documents — the whole process runs faster and better. We can share findings much earlier in the audit, which helps clients act on them sooner. And because we can look more deeply at findings through automation, we help clients in a way that really makes a difference.” 

— Joost Lepoutre, Junior Manager Audit & Assurance, BDO Nederland 

Expanding Across the BDO Network 

BDO Netherlands was where the value was first demonstrated. It did not stay there. 

RobotX is now in use across multiple countries in the BDO network, each having followed the Netherlands’ lead. The platform and the way of working have been embraced internationally. The core of audit execution — drawing samples, tracing transactions, documenting findings — is consistent across jurisdictions, even where local auditing norms vary. 

“Although there are differences between countries in the way of auditing, the core control work remains the same. So the potential for a broad rollout is significant. I see the Netherlands being closely followed by other countries with this technology. We are a small country — but we are genuinely ahead.” 

— Robert Hyde, Founder, RobotX 

The Future They Are Building Together 

Neither RobotX nor BDO considers this journey finished. The vision Jansen describes points toward an audit that is not just faster, but structurally different in how it flows between auditor and client. 

“When the audit starts, the client receives a link with instructions to deliver data. The auditor programmes which samples they want. RobotX analyses the data, flags issues, and sends them back to the client. The client responds and adds documents. RobotX re-analyses. Then the whole file goes to the accountant for review. It moves toward a kind of self-service audit — but with higher quality, more room for risk-oriented analysis, deeper questions, and advice that a client really benefits from.” 

— Leon Jansen, CFO/COO and Board Member, BDO Nederland 

For the next generation of auditors entering the profession, Jansen sees a fundamentally different career taking shape — one that arrives at meaningful, client-facing work far sooner. 

“Starters will perform higher-value work much faster. They become the link with the client sooner, which requires collaboration and communication skills. They take on a reviewing role earlier, which means overseeing processes, findings, and outcomes faster. That requires strong analytical ability. And your role within a team changes — you work more independently, sooner, in a different hierarchy than just a few years ago.” 

— Leon Jansen, CFO/COO and Board Member, BDO Nederland 

Lepoutre, who serves as RobotX key-user for the Eindhoven office — training colleagues, channelling feedback, and shaping the joint roadmap — already lives that reality. 

“You work with young teams, do dynamic work, and are much more in contact with clients. RobotX takes over the aspects of our work that are sometimes seen as dusty. What is left is the collaboration, the client communication, the interpretation of findings and their impact on the audit. That is anything but dusty.” 

— Joost Lepoutre, Junior Manager Audit & Assurance, BDO Nederland 

Want to See What RobotX Can Do for Your Firm? 

RobotX is the AI-native execution layer for audit, trusted by firms from boutique practices to the Big 4. If your firm is still absorbing execution volume through manual processes or offshore teams, the BDO story is worth paying attention to. 

Book a demo: https://robotx.com/book-a-demo  

Explore the RobotX Audit platform: https://robotx.com/service/audit 

Image credits: BDO Netherlands, BDO and RobotX Build the Future of Audit Together