BDO Ireland Says New Technologies, Including Developments in AI, Are Subject to Appropriate Governance and Review Before Deployment

BDO Ireland LLP's Transparency Report 2026 is dated June 2026. Under "Compliance with Transparency Regulations," it says it outlines the requirements of EU Regulation 537/2014, Article 13, "and where these are included in this report." Parts of it follow, not the whole: some of the places where the firm says, in its own words, how it handles its own use of AI.

In the report's introduction from its managing partner, the firm says it has expanded its use of data analytics and digital tools, and has "maintained a disciplined approach to adoption, ensuring that new technologies, including developments in artificial intelligence, are subject to appropriate governance and review before deployment." Its focus, it says, remains on enhancing quality and efficiency "while maintaining professional judgement at the core of our work."

A Policy and Two Committees

Under "IT and Innovation," the report has a section headed "Artificial Intelligence." The adoption of AI, it says, "has been part of BDO's operation for some time." The firm says it recognizes both the potential of AI and the associated risks, "including reputational, quality, ethical, legal, social, technical, and operational considerations," and that those risks are managed through the governance and oversight of its Information Security Management System.

The approach is underpinned, by the firm's account, by key initiatives such as a global partnership with a technology company, "alignment with other BDO member firms on AI investment," and "the adoption of an updated Fair Usage AI Policy." That policy, it says, is published on internationally recognized principles and promotes the trustworthy and responsible use of AI. Oversight is provided by two bodies, the Quality and Risk Committee and the Information Security Governance Committee, "ensuring that AI is deployed safely and effectively across the firm."

An In-House Generative AI Solution

The same section describes the firm's in-house tool. In late 2024, it says, the firm launched an in-house generative AI solution, which it says is built on another company's AI service and "fully hosted within BDO's secure environment." All data processed by it "remains within our infrastructure, ensuring the highest standards of data protection and confidentiality," in the report's words.

The section then says that "client data is never used to train or enhance our AI models." The tool is available to all of the firm's staff, and is supported by comprehensive training and ongoing communications "to ensure effective and responsible use."

Tools Inside the Audit

In the report's account of its system of quality management, under engagement performance, the firm says its internal materials recognize that automated tools and techniques can enhance risk identification, data analysis, journal testing, visualization and the interrogation of large or complex data sets. The same materials, it says, "make clear that these tools must be understood, governed and integrated into the wider audit approach if they are to support quality."

Technology, by the firm's account, is treated as part of how its teams "think, challenge, evidence and execute." Its value lies "not simply in automation, but in how it sharpens professional scepticism, improves the quality of insight and supports more focused and responsive audit work."

"The wider supervisory environment has increasingly emphasised the importance of robust controls around such tools, including the certification and reliability of automated tools and techniques," the report says. The firm's own quality framework, in its words, "continues to evolve in a manner consistent with that direction."