DataSnipper and Armanino Ally to Bring Agentic AI to Internal Audit

AMSTERDAM – April 14, 2026 – A new strategic alliance between agentic automation platform DataSnipper and top U.S. accounting firm Armanino is set to accelerate the integration of advanced artificial intelligence into the worlds of internal audit and risk advisory. The partnership, announced today, aims to tackle a critical industry challenge: how to adopt powerful AI tools without compromising the governance, quality, and transparency essential to financial oversight.

This collaboration will see Armanino embed DataSnipper’s AI Agents directly into its audit and risk advisory services. The move signals a significant shift in the industry, moving beyond theoretical discussions of AI to practical, large-scale implementation designed to modernize how audits are performed.

A New Class of Automation: The Rise of Agentic AI

For years, the audit profession has grappled with immense pressure to expand its scope and provide deeper insights while facing resource constraints. The solution, many believe, lies in technology, but the path has been incremental. Now, the emergence of agentic AI represents a potential leap forward.

Unlike traditional robotic process automation (RPA), which follows rigid, pre-programmed rules, or generative AI, which excels at creating content, agentic AI systems are designed to act autonomously. They can understand a high-level goal, plan a series of steps, interact with different software tools, and make context-aware decisions to achieve the objective. In the audit context, this means an AI Agent can be tasked with an entire workflow—such as testing internal controls—and execute it from data extraction to final documentation with minimal human intervention for each step.

The market is quickly recognizing this potential, with firms like Diligent and AuditBoard also developing AI agent capabilities. DataSnipper differentiates itself by embedding its agents directly into familiar environments like Microsoft Excel, creating a “human-in-the-loop” system. This approach aims to lower the barrier to adoption and ensure that its AI outputs are fully traceable, linking every result back to the source document to prevent the “hallucinations” or unexplainable results that can plague other AI models.

Forging a Path for AI-Powered Assurance

The alliance between DataSnipper and Armanino is built on a two-pronged strategy. First, Armanino will leverage DataSnipper’s AI Agents within its own internal audit and risk advisory engagements. This will automate historically manual and document-heavy processes, such as controls testing, evidence validation, and audit support, promising faster, more consistent execution.

Second, Armanino will act as a strategic guide for its clients. The firm will advise organizations on their own digital transformation journeys, helping them embed AI into their operating models. This comprehensive support includes change management consulting, employee training, and workflow redesign to ensure that the technology is adopted effectively and at scale. This synergy combines a cutting-edge technology platform with the deep domain and change management expertise of a leading advisory firm.

"AI should help professionals invest more time on the work that matters most," said Ted Flom, Partner in Risk Advisory Services at Armanino. "For internal audit and risk teams, that means reducing time spent on manual, document-heavy processes so they can focus more on judgment, oversight, and delivering meaningful insight to the business. Our work with DataSnipper strengthens our ability to help clients modernize their internal audit programs and workflows while keeping quality and human expertise at the center."

Balancing Innovation with Governance and Trust

The rapid advancement of AI has raised valid concerns among regulators and professional standards bodies. Organizations like the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) are closely examining AI's role, emphasizing that its use must not compromise audit quality. Key concerns include the risk of algorithmic bias, the “black box” nature of some AI decisions, and the potential for auditors to develop “automation bias,” where they over-rely on technology without applying sufficient professional skepticism.

The DataSnipper-Armanino partnership directly addresses these challenges. The alliance’s stated goal is to align AI deployment with existing audit methodologies and regulatory requirements. DataSnipper's platform is designed to produce transparent, audit-ready evidence, with every action and finding cross-referenced to its source. This traceability is crucial for reviewers and regulators who need to understand and verify the work performed.

By keeping a human auditor in control of final judgments and sign-offs, the model aims to use AI as a powerful assistant rather than an unaccountable decision-maker. This approach aligns with guidance from regulatory bodies, which consistently stress that technology is a tool to augment, not replace, the auditor’s professional judgment and ultimate accountability.

Empowering the Modern Auditor

Far from making auditors obsolete, this wave of agentic AI is poised to elevate their role. By automating the repetitive, time-consuming tasks that have long defined much of an auditor’s daily work, the technology frees up professionals to focus on higher-value activities. Instead of manually vouching thousands of transactions, auditors can dedicate their expertise to investigating complex anomalies flagged by AI, assessing strategic risks, and providing forward-looking insights to business leaders.

"We chose Armanino because they're true believers in what we're building. They are avid and early adopters of DataSnipper, they advocate for AI adoption in audit, and their clients trust them to guide these transformations," said Vidya Peters, CEO of DataSnipper. "We look forward to working together to support audit teams as they leverage AI into their workflows."

This shift also enables a move from traditional sampling methods to testing 100% of a transaction population, dramatically increasing the level of assurance. With AI handling the scale, auditors can gain a more complete and accurate picture of an organization’s financial health and control environment.

As DataSnipper and Armanino begin to actively bring their combined offering to market, the collaboration represents a pivotal moment for the industry. It serves as a real-world test case for how to responsibly and effectively deploy agentic AI, potentially setting a new standard for efficiency, quality, and intelligence in financial oversight.