Internal Audit Collective

I’m excited to speak at APEX 2026, a leadership retreat for peak-performing Internal Audit leaders hosted by Internal Audit Collective. My session, “The Heart of the Resilient Internal Audit Leader,” is deeply personal. After my heart transplant journey, I learned that resilience is about leading with clarity, courage, humility, and purpose when the path forward is uncertain. Internal Audit leaders are navigating constant change: evolving risks, heightened expectations from stakeholders, talent pressures, transformation fatigue, and the need to provide assurance while also helping the business move forward. In moments like these, resilient leadership becomes more than a professional skill, it becomes a discipline of the #heart. If you’ll be at APEX, I’d love to connect. Please reach out, say hello, and join me for a conversation about what it takes to lead with heart in a profession that demands both strength and trust. Registration link in the comments below. #APEX2026

I'm excited to be speaking at the Internal Audit Collective's APEX 2026 Leadership Conference alongside Rachel Tressy, CPA, CIA, CRMA, NACD.DC. We'll be speaking about "Coordinating with the 2nd Line and Influencing Leadership" – a topic that is especially relevant as organizations navigate increasing complexity, evolving risks, and heightened expectations. What I'm looking forward to most is sharing real-world experiences and lessons learned about building trusted relationships across Audit, Risk, Compliance, and the business, while helping leadership make informed decisions. Rachel has been an incredible leader and thought partner, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to share the stage with her. I'm also excited to learn from fellow leaders and connect with professionals who are equally passionate about the future of Internal Audit. If you're attending, I'd love to connect. Registration Link: https://lnkd.in/gpbKjPMH Internal Audit Collective #APEX2026

Many audit functions want stronger collaboration between IT auditors and business process auditors. The challenge is that they often think it requires a complete overhaul of their audit methodology. In reality, it can start much smaller. For example: ✔ Pick one high-risk business process ✔ Identify the supporting systems and interfaces ✔ Map business risks to automated controls and ITGCs ✔ Coordinate testing activities ✔ Discuss findings together before reporting Those small changes can significantly improve audit quality. Take procure-to-pay as an example. A business process auditor may focus on: • Invoice approvals • Duplicate payments • Vendor management • Payment authorization An IT auditor may focus on: • ERP configurations • Workflow permissions • Interface monitoring • Access provisioning Both perspectives are valuable. But independently, they only tell part of the story. Together, they provide a much more complete view of risk, control effectiveness, and financial reporting impact. Many leading audit functions are moving toward: 🔹 Integrated planning 🔹 Shared risk language 🔹 Coordinated testing 🔹 Unified reporting 🔹 Business-focused communication That’s one of the core ideas behind Synergy. 📅 Our next cohort kicks off July 7th Over four weeks, participants explore practical ways to connect IT audit and business process auditing through real-world scenarios, workshops, and peer discussions. 🎓 16 NASBA CPE Credits 👥 Small cohort-based discussions 💬 12 months of access to the Internal Audit Collective community 👉 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ec7Fw2nC

There's a critical gap between business process auditing and IT auditing. And it's becoming harder to ignore. Many internal auditors and SOX professionals were never formally trained on how to “bridge the gap” and evaluate the IT controls that underpin financial reporting. The result? Audit teams struggle to see the full picture, making it harder to identify risks, scope controls effectively, and defend audit conclusions. That’s exactly why we built the Synergy program. If you're looking to build practical IT audit capability — from ITGCs and ITACs to SOC 1 reports, IPE testing, and integrated auditing — download the full 16-session syllabus down below. 👇

In my interactions with Internal Audit and SOX leaders, it’s apparent that most people believe AI is going to matter to their team, their work, and their organization. But there is a gap between those who are actually starting to use AI… and those who are still trying to figure out where to start. A lot of teams are still in that “experimenting” phase. Trying prompts. Testing a few ideas. But not much of it is showing up in real audit workflows yet. So next Tuesday at 3 PM ET, I wanted to host something a bit more practical. https://lnkd.in/dqeaRQE7 David Coulombe, Audit Executive at Petual and former CAE , will share perspectives and examples on how teams are actually adopting AI—and what that looks like inside Internal Audit and SOX functions today. They’re also a team worth paying attention to right now. They just raised $17M from Andreessen Horowitz (after an earlier round led by First Round Capital), and are focused specifically on AI to automate SOX testing. I’ve also been hearing from a number of members in the Collective who are already speaking with them and evaluating their technology. We’ll keep the webinar grounded in what teams are actually doing, including: - Where AI is starting to show up in audit workflows - How teams are thinking about build vs. buy - What “audit-ready” really means - Some of the challenges teams are running into early - And how roles across Internal Audit are starting to shift If you’re still trying to connect AI to the day-to-day work of your team, this should help make it more concrete. 👉 Save your spot for this free, NASBA-CPE webinar April 28 | 3 PM ET

The first audit team I worked on integrated financial, operational, and IT audits. We were all one team. I didn’t realize how unique it was until I moved on to other companies. Now I see that many of the struggles we have as auditors are caused by a disconnect in our teams. Business process auditors focus on financial risk. IT auditors focus on systems, access, and change management. Meanwhile, the real risk lives in the gap between them. If IT and business auditors are not planning, testing, and communicating together, organizations end up with duplicated work, control gaps, and incomplete assurance over financial reporting. Strong SOX programs require synergy between both sides of the audit function. • Joint risk assessments • Integrated testing • Cross-functional knowledge • Continuous communication The organizations doing this well are building faster, smarter, and more effective SOX programs. Building synergy between IT and business process auditors isn’t just a best practice, it’s essential for effective control testing. If you want to develop the skills needed to break down silos and drive more effective audits, then the webinar I'm presenting at the Internal Audit Collective is a perfect next step. Register now for the session on Thursday, May 28th, from 3-4 PM Eastern. Here is the link: https://lnkd.in/eg2YMe5A