The accounting profession is grappling with what some describe as an existential talent crisis, a challenge that has seen the number of candidates taking the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam drop to a 17-year low. Against this backdrop, an AI-native platform named Fieldguide, designed to automate the more routine aspects of auditing and accounting, recently secured a significant financial boost. Goldman Sachs Alternatives led a $75 million funding round for the company, pushing its valuation to $700 million. This investment arrives as more than three-quarters of current CPAs are projected to retire within the next decade, intensifying the industry’s need for innovative solutions.
Jin Chang, Fieldguide’s founder, experienced the tedium of grunt work in accounting firsthand, leading him to attempt leaving the industry multiple times. His vision for automating these tasks began taking shape in 2020, predating the widespread public awareness of generative AI tools like ChatGPT. Rather than establishing a new accounting firm, Chang chose to develop software, recognizing that many large corporations maintain long-standing relationships with their existing audit partners. This strategy aimed to integrate AI capabilities directly into the established workflows of accounting firms, rather than attempting to disrupt them by creating a new service provider from scratch.
Fieldguide’s initial journey to market acceptance for its AI-centric approach was not without hurdles. However, the subsequent surge in popularity of large language models from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic provided significant validation for Chang’s early commitment to an AI-native design. Over the past 18 months, the company has observed a growing enthusiasm within the CPA industry, moving beyond mere receptiveness to a “heavy appetite” for its technology. This shift has resulted in Fieldguide now being utilized by half of the top 100 U.S. accounting firms, including KPMG, albeit with varying levels of adoption for its agentic tools.
The platform’s AI agents are designed to handle functions traditionally outsourced to offshore firms in countries like India and the Philippines. These tasks include testing revenue figures in financial statements, planning audit procedures based on client industry, and drafting the procedural guidelines for audit teams. Chang explains that this approach allows AI agents to complete the initial pass of the work, with human auditors then stepping in to review the results. This division of labor aims to free up human experts to focus on more value-added activities, such as interpreting complex findings and nurturing client relationships, rather than the more repetitive data verification tasks.
Darren Cohen, global co-head of growth equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, noted his team had been monitoring the accounting sector for its potential for AI integration, tracking Fieldguide specifically for about two years. The decision to lead the Series C funding round was informed, in part, by direct feedback from Fieldguide’s clientele, who reported efficiency improvements of 30-40%. Cohen emphasized that Fieldguide represents a compelling application of AI, illustrating how purpose-built models tailored to specific use cases can deliver substantial benefits beyond general large language models. He also highlighted Chang’s deep domain knowledge in accounting as a key factor in the company’s success, providing a “primal understanding” of the industry’s inefficiencies.
Chang envisions a future where a traditional 10-person audit team might be able to complete an audit with only three individuals in the coming years, with AI agents eventually taking on higher-level strategic thinking. He posits that this automation will not eliminate jobs but rather accelerate the careers of junior auditors and mitigate burnout by allowing human professionals to engage in more stimulating, senior-level work. Fieldguide currently employs 160 individuals, with plans to double its workforce in the next year. Approximately 25% of its staff are former auditors, reflecting a strategic blend of Silicon Valley AI engineering expertise and practical subject matter knowledge from the field. While a strategic acquisition by an accounting firm might appear to be a logical next step, Cohen expressed optimism for Fieldguide pursuing an initial public offering, envisioning the company scaling its technology across various disciplines like audit, tax, and general accounting to become a substantial, publicly traded enterprise.
