Manager – Client Experience

Aprio, the 20th largest business advisory and accounting firm in the US, has launched Aprio Ventures, a strategic investment programme focused on emerging AI and technology companies. The initiative will identify and accelerate technologies to strengthen the firm's services and enhance client experience. Since 2019, Aprio has invested in nearly 20 technology companies. Aprio Ventures will allow the firm to pursue more opportunities across AI, automation, and enterprise software whilst gaining broader insight into technologies shaping accounting and advisory services. Kyle Kling will lead the programme, bringing over a decade of experience in corporate venture programmes and investing across AI, enterprise software, and fintech. Aprio Ventures supports the firm's broader growth strategy and its five-year, $300 million commitment to technology and automation.

Schock joins Aprio as insurance tax partner. Aprio appoints Brad Schock as insurance tax partner. Schock is based in Cleveland, Ohio, and works remotely. The appointment took effect in August 2026. Schock joins from EY, where the role was lead for global compliance and reporting within Americas captive insurance services, held from October 2022. Earlier positions include head of tax at Root, vice president and director of tax at National General Insurance, and senior manager for insurance tax at KPMG. Schock co-founded National Tax Credit Exchange, serving as chief financial officer from December 2019 to December 2020, and held assistant vice president roles at Mesirow Financial and Near North Insurance Brokerage earlier in a career in insurance and tax dating from 2000. Aprio is a business advisory and accounting firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, founded in 1952 and operating under the Aprio, LLP and Aprio Advisory Group, LLC brands. The firm serves clients in more than 50 countries and runs an insurance practice covering audit, tax, transaction advisory and unclaimed property compliance for insurers.

Aprio and Fieldguide co-build the future of audit with agentic AI. Amanda Waldmann ATLANTA, Aug. 5, 2026 - Aprio, the 20th largest business advisory and accounting firm in the U.S., today announced an expanded collaboration with Fieldguide, the leading transformation partner for agentic audit and advisory, building on a collaboration that began in 2023. Together, Aprio and Fieldguide are co-developing role-specific AI agents that span the full audit lifecycle, from planning and risk assessment through fieldwork, review, and financial statement preparation. Every workflow is built to comply with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), and Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) standards. Aprio's own audit methodology shapes how each agent is designed, and human oversight at every stage produces conclusions that meet the profession's highest requirements for judgment, accountability, and integrity. The collaboration will expand across Aprio's industry practices over time, with Aprio's own professionals building and refining the agents. The result is an audit capability that grows with the firm. With AI handling preparation, data validation, and documentation, Aprio's professionals invest more time with clients, interpreting results, guiding on complex issues, and advising on what's next. That's what clients will notice most: their Aprio team showing up as a strategic partner to their business. "Fieldguide shares our belief that the best audit technology should be built around the people who do the work, and that shared conviction is the foundation of this collaboration," said Michael Lange, Partner and Audit Practice Group Leader at Aprio. "Great audit work has always been about the relationship between our practitioners' judgment and our clients' business realities. Our work with Fieldguide is designed to deepen that relationship, building AI around our own methodology and standards so our teams can spend more time on insight, judgment, and what's next for our clients, which is where the real value of an audit lives." "We have always believed the best audit work happens when our people are fully present for clients," said Richard Kopelman, CEO of Aprio. "Our collaboration with Fieldguide makes that possible at scale. By building AI around our own methodology, we are freeing our professionals to do what they do best: be the trusted advisor to our clients and help them account for whatever comes next." The collaboration is one expression of Aprio's $300 million, five-year investment in AI and automation. Aprio's professionals are configuring Fieldguide's platform to their own engagement methodology, embedding the judgment and workflow standards that define great audit work directly into the technology they use every day. Fieldguide, in turn, builds and refines that platform around direct input from Aprio's professionals, so the technology reflects real engagement workflows rather than a generic template. "The future of audit depends on how well firms combine human judgment with AI-driven execution. Aprio isn't waiting for that future to arrive, they're helping build it. Aprio is helping build that future now. By co-building agentic workflows with us, Aprio is shaping how their methodology and their people work alongside AI from the ground up, which is how the most ambitious firms will define the next era of the profession," said Jin Chang, Co-Founder and CEO of Fieldguide. The partnership traces back to a three-month Payment Card Industry (PCI) pilot launched in March 2023, which converted to a full platform agreement by May of that year. In December 2025, Aprio expanded onto Fieldguide across its Risk Advisory Services practice, standardizing SOC, ISO, and HITRUST engagements alongside PCI on a single platform. That expansion connected Fieldguide to Aprio's Financial Audit practice. In May 2026, the collaboration extended into financial audit, laying the foundation for the agentic AI co-development now underway. Amanda Waldmann Increasing trust with AI for audit and advisory firms.