Auditing is an essential process in the business world. Auditing means examining a company’s financial records to verify they are correct. It’s essentially a part of the accounting field. Accounting involves providing information about an organization’s financial performance, profit, and revenue. And auditing examines whether this financial data is accurate.
While auditing is crucial, it is a complex process that brims with challenges. For example, it involves handling lots of paperwork. This includes financial statements, records, receipts, invoices, contracts, and more. Fortunately, auditing can be simplified using cutting-edge technology like an object recognition API.
This article will explore the concept of object recognition APIs and their benefits. We’ll also discuss how these APIs can help simplify auditing. Finally, we’ll explore the features of the best object recognition APIs, called Filestack.
What is an object recognition API?
Object recognition basics
Object recognition is a revolutionary technology that identifies and detects an object in an image. Depending on the API you’re using, object recognition can also detect multiple objects.
Object recognition is basically an advanced computer vision technique. It utilizes artificial intelligence, state-of-the-art machine learning, and deep learning algorithms. These technologies help classify and locate objects in an image. It shows the detected objects in a bounding box, allowing users to see the location of objects.
Object recognition API
An object recognition API is an application programming interface using object recognition technology. To use an object recognition API, you need an API key. You can then start making API calls to perform object recognition.
Some examples of reliable and accurate object detection APIs include:
- Filestack object recognition
- Microsoft Azure cognitive services
- Google Cloud Vision API, Amazon Rekognition
- Tensorflow object detection API.
What are the features and capabilities of an object recognition API?
Object detection and auto-tagging
This feature enables users to extract various objects present in a given image. Advanced API covers various categories, such as people, vehicles, animals, furniture, and more.
Object localization
This feature creates bounding boxes around objects. This way, it shows the location of the detected objects in an image. A robust API like Filestack utilizes state-of-the-art neural networks for object localization
Object size
These APIs draw rectangular bounds around objects, enabling users to determine their size
Object classification
Advanced object recognition APIs also classify images or objects. For example, they provide the most likely class of an object.
Text extraction and OCR
A powerful object detection API also offers text extraction and OCR features. OCR, or Optical Character Recognition, is used for text extraction.
In other words, OCR extracts text from digital images or scanned documents. It also converts scanned documents into editable and searchable documents.
What are the benefits of using object recognition APIs?
Process automation
These APIs eliminate the need to perform manual tasks by automating various processes. For instance, we can automate inventory management by using object detection models. These models are specifically trained to identify and detect objects in the inventory. This way, companies can get timely notifications and restock items on time.
Cost and time saving
Creating a custom object recognition solution with custom models is costly and time-consuming. An object detection API provides pre-built or pre-trained models. Hence, companies can save money on training models and development time.
Workload management
Object recognition APIs help organizations manage various workflows, such as image processing. Hence, they enable organizations to meet increasing customer demands.
How can an object recognition API help with auditing?
Integrating an object recognition API into your auditing workflow offers various benefits:
Inventory verification
Inventory verification or audit is usually a part of a financial statement audit. It involves checking a company’s physical inventory and records against its financial records.
Auditors can use object recognition to detect and categorize inventory items automatically. This way, they don’t have to count and record items manually, which saves time and reduces errors.
Automating document analysis and data extraction
Suppose you’re using a powerful object detection API like Filestack that also offers OCR. In that case, you can scan and automatically extract key information from financial documents, such as:
- Invoice numbers
- Vendor details
- Total amounts and dates, etc.
You can then validate this data automatically. For example, you can:
- Verify the data against pre-defined accounting rules or patterns
- Track missing data
- Identify discrepancies.
Automating anomaly detection and comparison of financial documents
Object detection and OCR can help identify inconsistencies and errors in accounting documents. Moreover, they also help discover suspicious patterns in the documents.
For example, these technologies can extract data from receipts and invoices. Auditors can match this data with contracts, transactions, purchase orders, etc, for accuracy. This helps flag potential issues for further investigation and prevent fraud.
Assets verification
Using object detection, auditors can analyze fixed assets in video footage and images. They can then verify the existence and condition of assets, such as equipment and machinery. This helps keep asset records accurate and up-to-date.
Verifying Document
Using object detection, auditors can analyze visual elements and text present in the documents. This way, they can verify the provided financial documents are authentic and complete. This also helps ensure auditors have all the documents required for auditing.
How can Filestack help simplify the auditing process?
Filestack offers a range of powerful APIs and tools for file upload, delivery, and transformation. It also offers various intelligence services, such as:
- Object detection
- Object recognition
- Image tagging
- Document detection
- OCR and explicit content detection.
Here is how Filestack can help simplify the auditing process:
File uploading and storage
First, you need to integrate Filestack File Uploader/File Picker into your web or mobile app. You can then use Filestack object recognition API and other intelligence services. Integrating the Filestack File Uploader is quick and easy, requiring only a few lines of code. However, you can customize the uploader as per your requirements. The Uploader supports 20+ integrated sources, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google Drive. Additionally, it allows you to show file previews and enable multiple file uploads. Filestack offers various open-source SDKs to enable developers to access the underlying API.
Once users upload a file using Filestack uploader, Filestack stores it in an S3 bucket. The S3 bucket is internally managed. However, Filestack also allows you to integrate a cloud storage solution of your choice and save your files there.
In terms of auditing, here is how Filestack uploader can be helpful:
- You can upload financial documents, such as invoices and financial statements, for analysis.
- Filestack will store the documents in cloud storage. Hence it provides a centralized repository for financial documents for object recognition analysis.
Object detection and recognition
Filestack supports object detection and recognition. This means it detects objects in an image and also locates their position using state-of-the-art neural networks. Moreover, it supports thousands of categories, such as people, animals, transportation, etc.
Sending financial documents or images for analysis
By using Filestack’s API integration, you can transfer the uploaded documents to the object recognition API. Filestack can handle the data transfer between your app and the API.
Document detection and pre-processing
Filestack has an advanced Document Detection system and sophisticated document pre-processing solutions. Filestack Document Detection creates a bounded box around the entire image/document automatically. It then wraps it to fit the entire image. Moreover, robust pre-processing solutions allow users to extract accurate information. These solutions can detect folded, rotated, and even wrinkled documents. Hence, they help improve the accuracy of OCR data extraction from financial documents.
Filestack OCR examines features character-by-character using powerful digital image analysis. This improves the accuracy of the detected text. Filestack OCR can extract valuable information from various financial documents, such as:
- Receipts
- Invoices
- Contracts and other relevant documents
Hence, Filestack OCR makes your auditing process faster and more efficient. Filestack OCR is available as a synchronous operation in the Processing API.
Unleash the Power of Filestack’s WordPress Plugin for Object Recognition APIs
Filestack WordPress plugin makes it easy to integrate Filestack File Uploader in WordPress. Once it is integrated, you can use Filestack’s intelligence services like object recognition and OCR.
Features
Some of the key features of the plugin include:
- It enables seamless data transfer between the WordPress site and the recognition API.
- It is designed to make your WordPress experience better
- The ‘Display Mode’ parameter provides various uploader styles. You can choose a style that matches your site’s overall theme.
- You can personalize the plugin’s functionality using extra shortcode arguments.
How Filestack’s plugin enhances the auditing workflow?
Streamlined document upload
Filestack simplifies the process of uploading financial documents for analysis.
Centralized repository
Filestack provides a centralized repository for storing financial documents. This way, it provides easy access to the documents and helps organize them
Preprocessing capabilities
Filestack document detection can efficiently handle the preprocessing of financial documents. You can then send these documents to the object recognition API. Preprocessing helps optimize the data for accurate analysis.
Object recognition and OCR
Filestack offers object detection, recognition and OCR services. Hence, it enables you to extract necessary data from financial documents required for auditing.
What are the best practices and considerations for using object recognition for auditing?
- Ensuring data privacy and security
- Checking the accuracy and quality of extracted data
- Error handling and robustness strategies for reliable auditing automation in accounting
Conclusion
Object recognition APIs identify, detect, and locate objects in an image. They can help simplify the auditing process in several ways. For example, these APIs can help with:
- Inventory verification
- Fixed assets verification
- Automated document analysis
- Data extraction
- Anomaly detection and fraud prevention.
If you’re looking for a powerful object detection API, Filestack is a reliable option. Sign up for Filestack today and make your auditing process simpler and quicker!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are examples of object recognition APIs?
Some of the best object recognition APIs include:
- Filestack object recognition
- Google Cloud Vision API
- Microsoft Azure cognitive services
- Amazon Rekognition.
What is object recognition used for?
Object recognition can be used for various purposes, such as:
- Inventory management
- Anomaly detection
- Autonomous driving
- Parking occupancy, etc.
What are the benefits of object recognition?
It helps automate processes and make them faster, saving time and money.
Sidra is an experienced technical writer with a solid understanding of web development, APIs, AI, IoT, and related technologies. She is always eager to learn new skills and technologies.
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