UpTrajectory Review

Wolters Kluwer asked internal audit professionals where AI could create the most value for their teams, and the top answer, at 38.2%, was planning and risk assessment. That is a modest headline number, but it points to a real shift in how audit functions are thinking about AI: not as a faster way to execute existing tests, but as a tool for deciding where to look in the first place. For small-business owners, this matters because internal audit is no longer just a big-company function. Lenders, insurers, franchisors, and increasingly large customers are asking smaller firms to demonstrate controls and risk visibility, and the same AI-assisted planning tools are becoming available to them.

The instinct behind the survey result is sound. Most small businesses do not lack data; they lack a disciplined way to decide which risks deserve attention this quarter. AI can help sort transaction patterns, flag anomalies in cash flow or inventory, and surface the areas where a part-time bookkeeper or outside accountant should focus. But the 38.2% figure also tells us that nearly two-thirds of audit professionals see more value elsewhere, or are not sure. That is a useful reminder that AI in audit is still early, and the tools are better at augmenting judgment than replacing it.

What is genuinely new here is the framing. A few years ago, the conversation about AI in audit centered on automating sample testing or reading contracts faster. Putting planning and risk assessment at the top suggests the profession is moving upstream, toward using AI to shape the audit plan itself. We are somewhat skeptical of how quickly that translates to small firms, though. The data quality inside many small businesses, think messy chart of accounts, personal and business expenses mixed together, will limit what AI can plan around until the books are cleaned up.

The second-order effect worth watching is the talent squeeze. If AI handles more of the planning grunt work, the value of an internal auditor shifts toward interpreting results and challenging assumptions. Small businesses that rely on outsourced accounting may find their providers offering AI-assisted risk reviews as an add-on service, which could be genuinely useful or just a repackaged upsell. Either way, owners should expect to be asked more pointed questions about controls, segregation of duties, and fraud risk, because the tools to ask those questions are getting cheaper.

Our advice: treat AI-assisted risk planning as a prompt to get your own house in order, not as a reason to buy software. Start by making sure your chart of accounts is clean, your bank feeds reconcile, and you have a written list of the top five risks to your business this year. If your accountant or bookkeeper mentions AI-driven risk assessments, ask what data the tool needs and what it actually flags. The businesses that benefit from this shift will be the ones whose records are good enough for AI to be useful.

“38.2% of internal audit professionals selected planning and risk assessment” — CPA Practice Advisor

Takeaway: Clean books and a written risk list come before any AI tool; good records are what make AI-assisted risk planning work.