Klarity AI Partners with Forvis Mazars as 73% of Finance Leaders Bet on AI

Klarity AI partners with Forvis Mazars to accelerate AI-driven finance transformation for enterprise clients, combining the global advisory firm’s consulting reach with Klarity’s automation platform at a time when artificial intelligence is rapidly moving from boardroom talking point to operational reality across the accounting profession. The collaboration will blend Forvis Mazars’ finance transformation expertise with Klarity’s AI capabilities to streamline client projects, according to the companies.

The deal lands against a backdrop of surging demand. NVIDIA’s 2026 State of AI in Financial Services report found that 73% of executives now consider AI crucial to their future success, up from a far smaller share just two years ago. Active AI usage among financial institutions has reached 65%, compared with 45% the year prior, and nearly all respondents said their AI budgets would increase or hold steady. Separately, the 2026 Financial Executives Priorities Report, produced by the Financial Education and Research Foundation in partnership with Forvis Mazars, showed that 64% of finance leaders rank AI and machine learning as their top technology investment priority for 2026, up from 43% in 2025.

The acceleration is not happening in a vacuum. The accounting profession is contending with a structural talent crisis that is reshaping how firms operate. More than 300,000 U.S. accountants and auditors have left the field since 2019, a 17% decline from the workforce peak. The American Institute of CPAs estimates that 75% of current CPAs are approaching retirement age. CPA exam candidacy has fallen more than 27% over the past decade, and only 1.4% of university students now choose accounting as a major, down from 4% a decade ago. Unemployment in the profession hovers near historic lows of 1% to 2%, meaning virtually every qualified professional is already employed. Firms are not just competing for talent. They are running out of it.

That shortage is pushing AI adoption faster than any marketing campaign could. According to Accounting Today, 35% of firms plan to automate processes using AI in 2026. The global AI accounting market is projected to reach $10.87 billion this year. Some firms already report automating more than 80% of individual tax return preparation, and audit teams are cutting document analysis times by half or more with AI-powered tools. Bank reconciliations, expense categorisation, invoice processing and PO accruals are moving from manual workflows to automated systems at a pace the profession has not seen before.

It is in this context that Klarity AI partners with Forvis Mazars to address what both companies see as a widening gap between AI ambition and AI execution. Forvis Mazars is a top-10 global professional services network formed in June 2024 through the combination of U.S.-based FORVIS and the internationally integrated Mazars partnership. The network reported combined global revenue of $5.7 billion for fiscal year 2024 to 2025 and operates across more than 100 countries. Its chairman, Hervé Hélias, said recently that the rise of AI and digital platforms is creating new demand for independent oversight, noting that audit and assurance, which accounts for 45% of global revenue, delivered double-digit growth in the most recent fiscal year.

Klarity is an enterprise AI platform that automates document-centric processes in finance and accounting. It uses natural language processing and computer vision to extract, validate and match data from contracts, invoices and order forms. The company raised $70 million in Series B funding led by Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, with participation from Scale Venture Partners, Y Combinator and others, and counts DoorDash and CrowdStrike among its clients. Klarity’s pitch is straightforward: automate the high-volume, repetitive processing that currently absorbs large back-office teams, and free finance professionals to focus on judgement, strategy and client communication.

The readiness challenge is real. The Financial Executives Priorities Report found that only 15% of organisations consider themselves well or fully prepared to support advanced analytics and AI, while more than half acknowledge they are not prepared or only somewhat prepared. Data quality concerns, systems integration complexity and a shortage of in-house AI expertise remain the most commonly cited barriers. Partnerships that bundle advisory experience with production-grade technology are increasingly how firms are attempting to close that gap, and the move by Klarity AI partners with Forvis Mazars follows that pattern.

Competitive pressure is intensifying from multiple directions. Bloomberg’s own research has shown that 75% of European finance leaders believe failing to keep pace with AI could result in direct loss of profitability or organisational obsolescence. An EY survey from early 2026 found that 95% of technology executives expect AI spending to increase at their companies in the coming year, with 97% treating autonomous AI as a high or essential priority. A Wolters Kluwer survey projects the share of finance teams using agentic AI could rise from roughly 6% to 44% in 2026 alone. Agentic systems, which can plan, execute and adapt across workflows with minimal human input, represent the next frontier for accounting automation, moving beyond single-task tools into multi-step process orchestration. It is against this backdrop that Klarity AI partners with Forvis Mazars to deliver the kind of integrated, technology-led advisory that the market is increasingly demanding.

The profession is not adopting AI blindly. A global IDC study published this month, sponsored by Caseware, surveyed more than 1,000 audit and accounting professionals and found that two-thirds are actively embracing AI, while over half of audit leaders said they would trade some AI performance for stronger security and safety controls. The AICPA has launched its Profession Ready initiative to address the skills gaps emerging as automation reshapes early-career accounting work. Across the industry, the consensus is that AI raises the value of human accountants rather than diminishing it. When machines handle data entry and reconciliation, what remains is the work that requires professional judgement, ethical reasoning and the ability to communicate complex findings to clients and boards.

For finance leaders evaluating their own AI strategies, the fact that Klarity AI partners with Forvis Mazars provides a useful reference point. The model of pairing a specialist technology vendor with a global consulting network reduces the implementation risk and time-to-value that many organisations struggle with when attempting to deploy AI internally. It also reflects a broader shift away from standalone AI tools toward integrated solutions embedded within existing advisory relationships.

The accounting profession has navigated technology shifts before. Spreadsheets, ERP systems and cloud platforms all changed the nature of the work without eliminating the need for accountants. AI is following a similar trajectory, but the pace is faster and the scale is larger. Firms that embed AI into their operations now stand to gain lasting advantages in efficiency, accuracy and talent retention. Those that delay risk falling further behind as the readiness gap compounds.

As Klarity AI partners with Forvis Mazars to bring AI-powered automation to a global client base, the alliance is one more data point in a clear trend. The accounting and finance industry has moved past experimentation. With 73% of executives calling AI essential and the profession’s talent pipeline continuing to shrink, the pressure to act is no longer theoretical. For a growing number of organisations, the only remaining question is speed of execution.

The 2026 Financial Executives Priorities Report is available through the Financial Education and Research Foundation. Further information on Klarity AI partners with Forvis Mazars and the scope of the collaboration can be found at klarity.ai and forvismazars.com.