Something big is changing in auditing

Good morning. Finance chiefs are staring down a future where AI could rewrite the rules of auditing.

“CFOs are navigating a pace of change that is hard to fathom,” said Steve Soter, VP and industry principal at Workiva, an AI-powered platform for governance, risk, and compliance (Workiva is also a sponsor of CFO Daily). He also told me that GRC is no longer a back-office function or a “check-the-box” exercise.

Trust will determine how far AI goes, and GRC professionals are well-positioned to tackle that challenge, Soter said. “Over the next three to five years, AI will fundamentally redefine what it means to be an auditor,” he said. “We’re already seeing the rise of the ‘AI Auditor,’ as internal audit takes on the responsibility of governing AI models to ensure they are ethical, unbiased, and accurate.” According to Workiva’s 2026 Executive Benchmark Survey, 76% of internal audit teams are already testing their organizations’ AI models. Business leaders surveyed almost unanimously agreed that the CFO, CIO, and CSO must unite for data governance to succeed.

At the Institute of Internal Auditors’ Great Audit Minds conference in Las Vegas on Monday, Workiva unveiled a revamped AI-powered GRC platform introducing AI capabilities to automate manual audit tasks, and designed to help finance and audit leaders see risk in real time. When a risk profile changes or a control is updated, that change flows automatically through connected reports and disclosures, linking finance, audit, risk, and sustainability, Soter said.

Early adopters of its AI features have saved up to 40% of their time, freeing teams to focus more on analysis, advising the business, and addressing emerging risks,........

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