KPMG Backs Agentic AI Revolution with Fieldguide

In the ever-evolving world of professional services, the next big leap isn’t just about digital transformation—it’s about intelligent collaboration between humans and machines. And that’s exactly where KPMG is placing its next bet.

This week, KPMG announced a minority investment in Fieldguide, a fast-growing company pioneering agentic AI—a new class of artificial intelligence designed to act as a digital co-worker rather than just a tool. The collaboration marks a major step in how assurance and audit services are delivered, promising faster insights, greater precision, and enhanced transparency.

Why This Partnership Matters

AI isn’t new to the professional services world, but agentic AI is something different. Unlike traditional automation or large language models used for generic tasks, agentic AI can reason, adapt, and take initiative—mirroring how human experts approach complex analytical work.

Through this partnership, KPMG and Fieldguide aim to develop proprietary agentic AI applications built specifically for audit and assurance teams. These tools will assist practitioners in executing complex procedures, analyzing large datasets, and generating actionable insights—all while maintaining human oversight and accountability.

In short, this isn’t about replacing professionals. It’s about augmenting their capabilities and accelerating delivery timelines without compromising quality or trust.

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What KPMG Stands to Gain

For KPMG, this move aligns with its long-term strategy to reimagine assurance through AI-driven innovation. The firm has been steadily building a digital ecosystem around audit modernization, and Fieldguide’s technology fits neatly into that vision.

With agentic AI in the mix, KPMG expects to deliver:

• Accelerated project timelines: Tasks that once took weeks could now be completed in days.

• Enhanced data insights: AI systems can surface anomalies, trends, and risks that might otherwise go unnoticed.

• Seamless human-AI collaboration: Professionals can interact with AI tools in real time, refining analyses and improving outcomes.

According to Thomas Mackenzie, KPMG’s Chief Digital Officer for Audit, the partnership underscores the firm’s focus on responsible innovation:

In other words, it’s not just about doing things faster—it’s about doing them smarter and more reliably.

Fieldguide’s Take: Building AI That Understands Professionals

For Jin Chang, CEO and co-founder of Fieldguide, this partnership is validation of what the company has been building toward since day one: AI purpose-built for practitioners.

Fieldguide has quickly emerged as a standout in the AI-for-assurance niche. The company’s platform combines workflow automation with machine intelligence that understands the context and rigor of professional services work—an essential factor when accuracy and trust are paramount.

Agentic AI: The Next Evolution of Professional Services

So, what exactly is agentic AI—and why does it matter?

Unlike generative AI (which produces text, code, or images based on prompts), agentic AI systems are goal-driven and context-aware. They can plan, execute, and adapt tasks autonomously while collaborating with human professionals. Think of it as an AI “colleague” that doesn’t just follow instructions but also understands objectives, constraints, and professional standards.

In the assurance context, that means agentic AI could:

• Dynamically test hypotheses or control frameworks

• Analyze structured and unstructured data in real time

• Flag anomalies or inconsistencies for human review

• Continuously learn from audit methodologies and outcomes

For firms like KPMG, the implications are profound. The ability to pair practitioner judgment with AI’s computational power could redefine efficiency, accuracy, and client trust across the board.

The Bigger Picture

This investment also signals something broader: the mainstreaming of AI-powered professional services. Over the past year, we’ve seen a wave of fintech and consulting firms moving beyond proof-of-concept AI tools toward production-grade, embedded AI capabilities.

KPMG’s partnership with Fieldguide joins similar efforts across the Big Four and beyond—but the focus on agentic AI puts it ahead of the curve. The collaboration could serve as a blueprint for how professional services firms can responsibly integrate autonomous AI agents without losing sight of human expertise.

In an industry built on precision and trust, that balance—between automation and accountability—will likely define the next decade.

What to Watch Next

The KPMG–Fieldguide partnership is still in its early days, but the roadmap looks promising. Expect to see pilot deployments within assurance teams first, followed by broader rollout across audit and advisory functions.

If successful, this could mark one of the first major enterprise-scale applications of agentic AI in the professional services sector—a shift that could ripple across fintech, compliance, and risk management as well.

Bottom line:
KPMG isn’t just experimenting with AI—it’s reimagining what AI means for professionals. And with Fieldguide’s agentic technology at its side, the firm is positioning itself to lead the next phase of intelligent assurance.