Fieldguide: Transforming the $200 billion audit and advisory industry with AI

Accounting is at a crossroads—industry data shows there’s a growing need for its services, yet the supply of practitioners is contracting at a faster clip. It’s a profession that’s ripe for innovation: inefficiencies and challenges plague the audit industry, from outdated software to repetitive and complex processes. At Bessemer, we have conviction that AI can dramatically improve workflows and drive productivity gains for highly skilled professionals. Fieldguide was born out of this necessity. Bessemer Venture Partners is thrilled to lead Fieldguide’s $30 million Series B financing and partner with the team on its mission to reshape advisory engagements and audit workflows.

During his time at a Big Four accounting firm, Fieldguide CEO and co-founder Jin Chang began to envision a future where technology could transform the profession, not just assist. After Jin met his co-founder and CTO Chris Szymansky at legal AI startup Atrium, the two began to reimagine workflows for auditors. The opportunity became clear to leverage AI to address the imbalance between the demand for accounting services market [projected to grow more than nine percent (compounded annually) by 2032] and supply of fewer accounting graduates and listed CPAs. 

So, what’s driving these trends? CPAs are frustrated with repetitive tasks and intense hours—and they are quitting at unprecedented rates. Fieldguide is uniquely positioned to address these pain points with its end-to-end automation software. Through a modern, cloud-native user experience, Fieldguide’s AI technology blends industry best practices with firm-specific customization. 

“Like the hundreds of thousands who quit the audit and advisory industry in recent years, I left feeling burnt out,” said Jin Chang, CEO and co-founder of Fieldguide. “Fieldguide’s purpose is to improve the lives of these practitioners—the people who facilitate trust in commerce and capital markets.”

In just a few clicks, customers can use Fieldguide to send client requests, generate reports, summarize documents, and associate client materials with relevant accounting controls. By automating the mundane side of the audit process, Fieldguide enables CPA firms to take on more business without a corresponding increase in headcount, driving margin growth and freeing up professionals to focus on higher-value strategic work. In just 2.5 years, nearly 40 of the top 100 CPA firms have entrusted Fieldguide to improve their client engagements. It’s not just the efficiency gains that make CPAs excited to use Fieldguide—but trust and accuracy, too. In an industry where the stakes are high and mistakes are costly, Fieldguide has built a platform that the largest firms in the profession trust and believe.

When we spoke with Fieldguide users, we heard their love for the platform loud and clear. Customers praised the massive return on investment (ROI) they’ve experienced and how Fieldguide has transformed their employee and client experiences alike. In particular, phrases like “we can't imagine going back, the team is just so much happier with Fieldguide" were common. This kind of enthusiasm from customers is rare, and it's confirmed our excitement about partnering with the Fieldguide team.

“I’ve seen how audits can essentially shut down a company for weeks on end," said Chris Szymansky, co-founder and CTO. "We’re building a platform for auditors that takes that pain away.”

For decades, Bessemer has been at the forefront of investing in vertical software, leading early investments in transformative companies such as Toast, Shopify, Procore, and ServiceTitan. Tomorrow’s vertical software leaders will apply AI to solve industry-specific pain points. That’s what inspired our investments in EvenUp, where AI is helping legal professionals comb through hundreds of pages of personal injury case intake documents, and Abridge, where AI is eliminating doctors’ need to burn the midnight oil summarizing their daily patient notes. Fieldguide joins these companies as a beneficiary of AI’s powerful summarizing technology, making it easier and faster than ever to implement controls and create reports.  

We couldn't be more excited to join Jin, Chris, and the entire Fieldguide team on their mission to overhaul the massive advisory and audit sector with AI.  We believe the opportunity exists for Fieldguide to become synonymous with AI in Audit, and thereby build the next great vertical SaaS business.

We back vertical AI companies from seed through IPO. Are you building a similar solution for a different vertical or highly-skilled professional? Reach out to us at VerticalAI@bvp.com.