Thomson Reuters acquires AI specialist Materia

Thomson Reuters has expanded its AI capacities even further with the recent acquisition of Materia, a company that specializes in the technology for tax and accounting purposes. 

Materia's platform can answer accounting queries in plain language and embed citations so users can verify the information. It also functions as a document workspace, complete with analysis templates that can be saved and shared with a team, allowing for standardized work, as well as automatically generated insights. The platform can be loaded with the firm's own guidance and policies, client documents and contracts, and engagement files, as well as create templates based on the firm's own checklists. There is also a dedicated search engine for authoritative sources like the SEC, IRS and FASB, which also includes documents and integrations within the library. Finally, the platform features an accounting engine that can handle large-scale accounting workflows, from running templates to multistage planning.

"Our vision is to provide each professional we serve with a Gen AI assistant. Materia will further accelerate this vision for our tax, audit and accounting customers," said David Wong, chief product officer at Thomson Reuters. "Once fully integrated, Materia will transform work and unify the entire customer experience with applications across our tax, audit and accounting portfolio. We are excited by the potential of combining Materia with Thomson Reuters content, know-how and solutions."

Thomson Reuters Ventures, an early investor in Materia, led the effort to launch a proof-of-concept initiative that allowed select Checkpoint Edge users to engage with certain Checkpoint content through Materia's AI assistant.  The initial results from this work indicated that Thomson Reuters and Materia together could leverage generative AI to deliver value for Thomson Reuters tax, audit and accounting customers.

This is but the latest AI-related move by Thomson Reuters. Most recently, it released a new auditing solution that uses AI to segment audit testing populations, identify anomalies within the set, and generate all required documentation. Audit Intelligence Analyze is the first in what is promised to be a whole suite of software solutions for auditors called Audit Intelligence. Shortly before that, it released Checkpoint Edge with an AI-assisted research feature. 

These moves are part of a larger pivot from the business solutions company toward AI. Around springtime this year, it announced  its first brand refresh in 16 years to emphasize its commitment to investing in products and technology that leverage generative AI. The rebranding — with a new promise and messaging, an evolved tone of voice, a new color palette, a simplified logo and modernized fonts — aims to position the company squarely as a technology company.

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Technology Artificial intelligence Tax Thomson Reuters
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