AI and people rising together

Audit careers are changing with AI. EY US prepares early auditors to rise through agency, judgment and real-world experience.

• Audit careers are changing as AI automates routine work and raises the value of human judgment.
• The EY early-career pathway blends self-knowledge, deliberate experience and broad exposure to prepare future auditors.
• The pathway runs through Skills Arcade, Career Residency and 360 Careers, with a Skills Passport tracking progress throughout.

The future belongs to the curious

Imagine starting your career in a world where AI can answer questions in seconds, generate content instantly and automate many of the routine tasks professionals once relied on to gain experience.

Many of us entered the profession in a different era. We learned by researching, experimenting, making mistakes and gradually building confidence through experience. The process wasn't always efficient, but it helped us develop judgment.

Today, information is everywhere.
Answers are immediate.
AI can summarize, analyze and generate content in moments.

But information is not judgment.
And access to answers is not the same as knowing which answer matters.

The challenge is no longer finding information.
The challenge is knowing what to do with it.
The future belongs to professionals who can ask better questions, understand how businesses operate and make sound decisions when the answer isn't obvious.

A profession in transition

Artificial intelligence is transforming professional services in profound ways. Many of the detailed, rules-based activities that historically helped professionals gain experience early in their careers are rapidly evolving. That shift does not diminish the profession. It elevates what the profession requires.

When AI identifies a pattern, who determines whether it matters?
When information appears credible, who decides whether to trust it?
When a business faces a difficult decision, who asks the questions others miss?

The answer isn't technology. It's professional judgment.
And professional judgment develops through experience.
The future will belong to professionals who combine technical expertise with curiosity, business understanding and trusted judgment.

Building the professional the future requires

At Ernst & Young LLP (EY US), we believe the future of the profession requires more than technical expertise. It requires professionals who are curious enough to ask better questions, who understand how businesses operate beyond their own role and who earn trust by making sound judgments when the answer isn't obvious. That belief became the foundation for our early career pathway: a connected experience intentionally designed to help future professionals develop the capabilities the profession will increasingly demand.

The journey starts with Skills Arcade, where students discover how they think.
It continues through EY Career Residency, where they learn how to make decisions when the answer isn't obvious.
And it deepens through 360 Careers, where they learn how businesses work and how decisions, risks, systems and outcomes connect.
Together, these experiences help develop the curiosity, business understanding and trusted judgment that the future of the profession will demand.

Skills Arcade: Discover how you think

The journey begins with Skills Arcade, where students step into immersive scenarios designed to reveal how they think and make decisions.

Whether navigating competing priorities, evaluating information that appears credible on the surface or determining what matters most under pressure, participants gain insight into how they approach complexity. The experience culminates in a personalized Skills Card, providing insight into how they think, make decisions and navigate complexity in a rapidly changing world. Because before professionals can build new skills, they first need to understand how they think.

EY Career Residency: Learn how to make decisions

The next step is EY Career Residency.
Here, students move beyond theory and into experiences designed to challenge how they think.

Through real client work, immersive simulations, emerging technologies, structured debates and complex business scenarios, participants learn to evaluate competing perspectives, navigate ambiguity and make informed decisions when certainty doesn't exist. One day they may be defending a recommendation against competing viewpoints. Another, they may be working through a business challenge where multiple answers appear right, but the consequences are vastly different.

The goal isn't simply to learn the work. It's to develop the judgment required to navigate it.

Participants who successfully complete EY Career Residency become eligible for a full-time role as an analyst, a title intentionally chosen to reflect the evolving nature of accounting work and the broader capabilities today's professionals are expected to bring.

360 Careers: Learn how businesses work

Professional growth doesn't stop with professional judgment. It deepens through business understanding.

360 Careers helps professionals move beyond understanding their role to understanding the business as a whole. By experiencing different perspectives across functions, industries and specialties, professionals begin to see how decisions create opportunities, how risks emerge and how systems, people and outcomes connect. Over time, they develop an enterprise mindset and a deeper appreciation for how businesses create value, manage risk and adapt to change. Along the way, participants continue building skills, earning credentials and working toward their CPA. Because understanding how businesses work has become just as important as understanding the work itself.

More than a pathway

The pathway builds on our broader investment in early career development, including Skills Arcade and 360 Careers. EY Career Residency, the newest component of the experience, will welcome its first participants beginning in January 2028.

But this story isn't really about a pathway. It's about people.

AI is reshaping professional services, but long-term success still depends on human judgment, curiosity and the ability to take ownership of your growth. As technology changes the way work gets done, those who learn with purpose and build meaningful experience will be best positioned to succeed. EY US is committed to helping early career professionals develop the skills, confidence and perspective needed to thrive in this new environment. Your future will not be defined by technology alone, but by the choices you make today. Take the next step, build the career you want and discover how far your potential can take you with EY US. Apply now and start shaping what's next.

Summary

AI is reshaping audit careers, shifting routine tasks to technology and raising the value of human judgment. The EY early-career pathway helps future auditors build self-awareness, practical experience and broader business understanding through Skills Arcade, Career Residency and 360 Careers. With the Skills Passport tracking development, the pathway prepares talent to grow with confidence, earn credentials and contribute in a profession shaped by AI.