Looking back at 2025, one theme cuts across audit and lending markets globally. Pressure increased, expectations rose, and tolerance for inefficiency continued to fall.
Across the year, firms navigated tighter regulatory scrutiny, persistent talent challenges, margin pressure, and growing interest in AI. But the most important shift was not about adopting something new. It was about getting the fundamentals right.
This past year clarified what actually enables better decisions, and what firms are prioritising as they head into 2026.
The year in context
At the start of 2025, much of the industry conversation focused on modernisation and investment. As the year progressed, those conversations became more grounded.
By mid-year, firms were less interested in transformation narratives and more focused on execution. By Q4, the questions had sharpened further. How do we reduce friction during peak periods? How do we trust the data feeding our decisions? How do we give teams time back without compromising quality?
Those questions shaped how firms approached busy season, technology decisions, and partnerships throughout the year.
What 2025 reinforced
Busy season pressure exposed weak foundations
As we explored earlier this autumn, busy season is increasingly being won or lost well before January.
Throughout 2025, firms relying on manual data collection, fragmented processes, and inconsistent formats felt that pressure most acutely. Teams spent time chasing information, reconciling discrepancies, and reworking files rather than analysing results.
By contrast, firms that invested earlier in standardised, audit-ready data entered peak periods with more control. Case studies from firms such as SK Audits, GHJ, Grant Thornton, and Squash CPAs consistently show how earlier preparation supports faster planning, smoother execution, and more capacity for higher-value work.
The lesson from across the year was consistent. Preparation is no longer optional, and last-minute fixes do not scale.
Data integrity moved ahead of AI ambition
AI dominated headlines in 2025, but conversations inside firms were more pragmatic.
Across audit and lending markets, the message was clear. AI does not fix bad data. It exposes it.
As a result, many firms prioritised data foundations before accelerating AI initiatives. Standardisation, completeness, and confidence in financial data became prerequisites, not by-products.
This mindset also shaped how partnerships were evaluated. Collaborations with specialists such as Covecta reflected a shared emphasis on ensuring financial data is structured and usable before advanced analytics are applied. The goal was not experimentation for its own sake, but outputs teams and stakeholders could trust.
Integration mattered more than innovation
Another clear signal from 2025 was fatigue with disconnected tools.
Firms responded most positively to solutions that strengthened existing workflows rather than replacing them. Integration mattered not as a technical feature, but as a way to reduce duplication, rework, and handoffs.
This showed up across use cases during the year. Audit teams integrated financial data directly into existing methodologies. Insurers such as Purbeck Insurance used real-time accounting data to validate claims more efficiently. In each case, the focus was on fitting technology into how work already gets done.
Innovation without integration increasingly felt like friction.
Proof replaced prediction
Broad thought leadership about the future of audit and lending lost momentum in 2025.
What replaced it was evidence. Named firms. Clear use cases. Practical examples of time saved, quality improved, or decisions strengthened.
Across the year, credibility increasingly came from demonstrable outcomes rather than aspirational claims.
A year of momentum
2025 was also a year of validation for Validis.
The investment from Citi and Barclays reflected a shared belief that standardised financial data is foundational to better decision-making. Not for the technology itself, but for what it enables. Faster credit decisions. Better audit insights. Less time wrestling with spreadsheets.
That focus on fundamentals was reinforced by the launch of Validis 3.0, the New Experience. The updated platform was designed around clarity, usability, and trusted financial data, supporting teams from onboarding through analysis while fitting into existing workflows.
It was a practical step forward, aligned with how firms were already working and where they were heading next.
Signals shaping 2026
As firms look ahead, several priorities are already clear.
First, getting data foundations right before scaling AI initiatives. Second, protecting team capacity during peak workloads. Third, reducing friction across audit, lending, and insurance workflows through integration. Fourth, grounding decisions in evidence rather than assumptions.
These are not radical shifts. They reflect a market that has learned from the pressures of the past year and is adjusting accordingly.
Looking ahead
As the year draws to a close, the direction is clear. Firms are moving away from noise and novelty, and towards clarity and execution.
If January is when you review what’s working and what isn’t, you can book a January demo to see how firms are using the Validis New Experience to reduce busy season pressure and support better decisions.
Thank you to the customers, partners, and peers who shared insight and candour with us throughout 2025. Those conversations continue to shape the work ahead.
Season’s greetings from all of us at Validis, and best wishes for a strong start to 2026.
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