Innovation & Digital Transformation in Professional Services Award

Evaluation

90% automatic · 10% by the award committee

Minimum score to win

70 / 100

Measurement period

The last full financial year (2025); for impact measures, a comparison of the twelve months before implementation with the latest twelve months after it

Who can apply

• A licensed financial professional services firm (audit, valuation, financial advisory, zakat and tax) or a digital tool provider serving such firms
• The tool used on real client work for at least 12 months
• Client data protected under data protection law and professional confidentiality rules
• No final material regulatory or judicial sanction against the nominee during the measurement period

Indicators and weights

1. Digitally delivered engagements

   Share of 2025 engagements of the relevant type delivered using the nominated digital tool

   15%
   Show points and evidenceHide

   Points

   • 80 – < 100 % 100
   • 50 – < 80 % 80
   • 25 – < 50 % 50
   • 0 – < 25 % 20

   Evidence

   Practice management report linking engagements to the tool

2. Professional hours saved

   Reduction in average professional hours per engagement for tasks the tool covers, between the year before implementation and 2025

   20%
   Show points and evidenceHide

   Points

   • 35 – < 100 % 100
   • 20 – < 35 % 80
   • 10 – < 20 % 50
   • 0 – < 10 % 20

   Evidence

   Timesheet reports before and after

3. Full-population testing

   Share of engagements in which sample testing was replaced by analysing the full population of transactions with the tool

   15%
   Show points and evidenceHide

   Points

   • 60 – < 100 % 100
   • 35 – < 60 % 80
   • 15 – < 35 % 50
   • 0 – < 15 % 20

   Evidence

   Engagement report with analytics working papers

4. Reduction in review findings and rework

   Fall in internal quality review findings or rework cases per engagement compared with before implementation

   10%
   Show points and evidenceHide

   Points

   • 50 – < 100 % 100
   • 25 – < 50 % 80
   • 10 – < 25 % 50
   • 0 – < 10 % 20

   Evidence

   Internal quality reports before and after

5. Client portal adoption

   Share of active clients who exchanged documents and approvals through the secure portal instead of email in 2025

   10%
   Show points and evidenceHide

   Points

   • 80 – < 100 % 100
   • 50 – < 80 % 80
   • 25 – < 50 % 50
   • 0 – < 25 % 20

   Evidence

   Portal usage report

6. Staff certified on the tool

   Share of professional staff who completed certified training on the tool or on data analytics in 2025

   10%
   Show points and evidenceHide

   Points

   • 85 – < 100 % 100
   • 60 – < 85 % 80
   • 30 – < 60 % 50
   • 0 – < 30 % 20

   Evidence

   Training register and completion certificates

7. Tool security assurance

   Valid independent certificates or reports for the tool or its hosting: ISO/IEC 27001 and a SOC 2 Type II report

   10%
   Show points and evidenceHide

   Points

   • Both valid100
   • One valid60
   • None0

   Evidence

   Copies of the certificates or reports

Scored by the award committee

1. Depth of change in professional work

   10%
   • The tool changed the professional methodology itself (e.g. from sampling to full-population testing or continuous automated valuation), reflected in the approved methodology manual100
   • The tool automated whole stages of the engagement while the core methodology stayed the same70
   • The tool improved separate tasks such as documentation or document exchange40
   • Cosmetic digitisation of paper steps with no change in the work10

Each indicator gives 0 to 100 points; its share of the total is its weight. Ties are decided by the indicators listed first in the scorecard; payment or package never affects the score.

1. Done

   Nominations open

   26 October 2026 · 13:10

2. Upcoming

   Nominations close

   27 November 2026 · 01:10

3. Upcoming

   Judging starts

   27 November 2026 · 01:11

4. Upcoming

   Judging ends

   4 December 2026 · 13:00

5. Upcoming

   Results announced

   4 December 2026 · 13:10

Times are in Asia/Riyadh (UTC+03:00).