Every audit and finance team knows the grind of digging through invoices, contracts, tax forms, and bank statements. Manually pulling numbers, dates, and details into Excel eats up time, risks mistakes, and slows down reviews. Multiply that by thousands of documents per engagement, and the hours add up fast.

That’s why document extraction software is becoming standard. It automates the work of reading, pulling, and cross-referencing information from source documents directly into your financial workflows. Instead of copy-paste, teams get accuracy, audit trails, and speed.

What is document extraction software?

Document extraction software uses OCR (optical character recognition) and AI to scan PDFs, images, and forms, then pull key fields into your working papers or ERP systems. For finance professionals, that often means:

• Invoice numbers and amounts: tools can automatically capture line items and totals from vendor invoices, reducing manual entry for payables.
• Contract terms: key clauses, dates, and obligations can be extracted for easy review and compliance checks.
• Dates and due dates: payment deadlines and reporting periods are pulled directly into Excel for quick reconciliations.
• Bank details: account numbers and transaction references are matched against records for faster confirmations.
• Totals from financial statements: financial figures can be extracted at scale, supporting reconciliations and variance analysis.

Instead of typing or re-keying this data, you tag it once, and the tool pulls it into Excel or your audit workpapers. The result is faster reviews, fewer manual errors, and better compliance evidence.

Why document extraction matters in audit and finance

External auditors, internal auditors, and financial controllers are under pressure to do more with less time. A single engagement can involve 2,000+ invoices, dozens of contracts, and hundreds of reconciliations. If every value is typed or checked by hand, risk and fatigue set in.

According to Accounting Today’s special report, “How Does Your Tech Stack Stack Up?,” junior auditors save over 8 hours per engagement when robust data extraction tools handle tedious prep - freeing them to focus on analysis.

With extraction tools, the workflow changes:

• Faster audit reviews – pull hundreds of data points in minutes.
• Improved accuracy – automation reduces copy-paste errors.
• Compliance ready – everything links back to the source.
• Cost savings – teams cut hours of repetitive work per engagement.
• Employee retention - less burnout from repetitive tasks.

Firms using automation report review times dropping by 60% or more. For example, Grant Thornton reduced audit testing from 600 hours to just 30 hours on a major project by using DataSnipper’s document matching.

Key features in document extraction software for audit and finance

When buyers evaluate document extraction software for audit and finance, they want more than generic OCR. They look for accuracy, compliance, and seamless fit into existing workflows. These are the essentials:

• High accuracy and reliability: Advanced OCR and AI should handle varied layouts and low-quality scans with precision. Look for features such as image preprocessing and machine learning to continuously improve results. Learn more about OCR in banking and finance.
• Audit-focused functionality: Transparent audit trails are critical. Leading solutions link every extracted value to its source document, providing visual provenance that reviewers and regulators can verify.
• Workflow and integration: The right tool integrates smoothly with Excel and other core systems like ERPs and accounting platforms, ensuring extracted data is immediately usable.
• Human-in-the-loop (HITL): Since no automation is perfect, workflows that allow human review and correction help maintain quality and improve accuracy over time.
• Flexibility and customization: Audit and finance teams deal with invoices, contracts, confirmations, and financial statements, each with unique layouts. Strong tools adapt across document types without compromising accuracy.
• Reporting and data management: Transparency matters. Detailed reporting, structured outputs, and the ability to classify and organize documents streamline compliance and review.

Buyers should prioritize tools that combine automation speed with audit-ready accuracy. Excel-native solutions, like DataSnipper, eases the headache of constantly switching between platforms by enabling both routine invoice extraction and complex financial statement reviews. Read our best practices for invoice extraction to get a head start.

DataSnipper: the document extraction software chosen by the Big Four

At this point, it’s fair to wonder which tool actually fits audit work best. Since most financial professionals live in Excel already, that’s exactly where DataSnipper was built to work. Trusted by all the Big Four firms and more than 500,000 auditors worldwide, it brings automation directly into Excel so teams never have to leave the environment they know.

The most loved features include:

• Snipping – link any value in Excel to its source document.
• Table Snip – extract whole tables from PDFs in one click.
• Form Extraction – apply one snip across hundreds of similar forms, like invoices or tax returns.
• Search and Snip – search across thousands of pages instantly.
• WebSnip – capture online evidence with URL and timestamp.
• Advanced Document Extraction (ADE) – AI-powered, automatically detects and pulls fields from complex financial statements and tax forms.

This Excel-native approach means no switching tabs, no exporting, and no retraining staff. Reviewers see all cross-references in one workbook tab. That’s why Deloitte reported a 3x faster audit cycle after adopting DataSnipper.

Real-world ROI from document extracting

Customer stories from around the world show how document extraction capabilities delivers measurable impact. Below are ones who have used DataSnipper and the ROI to their audit and finance workflows:

• Audacie: Teams reported saving 50–75% of time on audit workflows, transforming how quickly evidence could be reviewed.
• Baker Tilly Netherlands: Achieved significant efficiency gains across engagements, reducing review work by up to half.
• Berney Associés: Cut financial statement review time by more than 50%, turning 30–45 minute tasks into just 15 minutes.
• BMF: Reduced disbursement testing from 8–10 hours down to 1–2 hours, an efficiency gain of 70–80%.
• Grant Thornton: Cut audit testing from 600 to 30 hours across 2,400+ documents.
• RSM: Achieved 90% time savings and stronger audit trails.

If this sparked your interest, read more customer stories here.

Future of document extraction for audit and finance

The next wave of document extraction is defined by AI advancements that go beyond simple text capture and adding structure. Firms already benefit from DataSnipper’s advanced automation, but the pace of progress is accelerating rapidly. Here’s a few examples:

• Enhanced natural language processing (NLP) and understanding: AI will not just read numbers and names, it will interpret context and intent, improving accuracy in unstructured data like contracts and disclosures.
• Generative AI for insights: Models will generate intelligent summaries of lengthy financial reports and tax forms, helping teams focus on key risks instead of wading through pages.
• Conversational interfaces: Instead of searching manually, users will be able to ask natural language questions of their documents and get contextual answers from within Excel. DocuMine from DataSnipper is delivering on this already.
• Deeper process integration: Extraction will connect directly into finance and audit workflows, driving automated decision-making and reducing bottlenecks.
• Adaptive, self-improving systems: Machine learning models will refine themselves with each engagement, becoming more accurate and efficient over time.

For finance teams, this means more than speed. It means deeper insights, stronger compliance, and faster decisions. To see how automation is already reshaping compliance work, explore this comparison of manual vs. automated tax audit data extraction. If you're AI curious and interested to learn more about how AI can fit into your workflow as an auditor, check out our guide below.

Choosing the right document extraction software

To close things off, we want to make sure you leave with valuable tips. If you’re looking for extraction capabilities in your audit workflow, good to know - not every extraction tool is built for audit work. When selecting software, auditors should weigh:

• Workflow fit: Does it work directly in Excel, where your teams already spend most of their time?
• Audit-ready traceability: Can every invoice figure be tied back to its exact source?
• Ease of use: Will staff at all levels be able to use the tool without extensive training?
• Innovation focus: Is the vendor continuously improving with audit-specific features, or are they retrofitting from other industries?
• Scalability: Can the software handle thousands of invoices across multiple engagements?
• Compliance: Does it meet standards like GDPR and SOX, while supporting controls such as three-way matching?

Auditors looking for invoice extraction that balances speed, accuracy, and compliance often find that Excel-native automation provides the strongest fit.

Conclusion: DataSnipper leads the future of document extraction

Document extraction software is no longer optional. It’s the backbone of efficient, accurate, and compliant audit and finance work. DataSnipper delivers a complete, Excel-native solution purpose-built for audit and finance.

With features like Advanced Document Extraction, Table Snip, and Form Extraction, plus proven ROI from firms like Deloitte, RSM, and Grant Thornton, DataSnipper is redefining how auditors and finance teams handle evidence.

Ready to see it in action? Book a demo

FAQs

What makes DataSnipper different from other OCR tools?

‍It embeds audit-specific features like Snipping, Table Snip, and Form Extraction directly in Excel, building a compliance-ready audit trail.

Can DataSnipper integrate with Excel?

‍Yes. It’s an Excel add-in. That’s why adoption is fast - no retraining needed.

Is document extraction secure for financial data?

‍Yes. DataSnipper meets strict standards like GDPR and SOX, and data can stay local for firms that prefer on-device security.

Is this only for large firms?

‍No. While the Big Four use DataSnipper at scale, small and mid-size firms and finance teams also save hours of manual work on invoices, confirmations, and reconciliations.

What’s the cost range?

‍DataSnipper offers packages that scale to firm size. The ROI calculator shows typical savings in the hundreds of thousands within the first year.