The Audit Podcast

Links:
Why Amazon Has Dropped its Internal AI Usage Leaderboard
 
Be sure to follow us on our social media accounts on:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-audit-podcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theauditpodcast
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theauditpodcast?lang=en
 
Also be sure to sign up for The Audit Podcast newsletter and to check the full video interview on The Audit Podcast YouTube channel.

This week on The Audit Podcast, Martin, Head of Internal Audit at Reddit, joins the show to discuss why the opportunity for internal audit is bigger now than ever and how auditors can move from backseat drivers to helpful copilots.
 
Martin shares how he learned Reddit's complex digital advertising business by being a humble "sponge". He explains his unique hiring strategy—hiring for a "major" in deep technical craft (like data science or engineering) and teaching the "minor" of audit later. He also breaks down his approach to navigating tough risk conversations and reveals how his team uses generative AI to automate 70% of their recurring SOX testing.
 
02:32 How Martin Uses AI in His Personal Life
03:45 The One Thing Every Auditor Should Do
06:06 How to Learn a New Business Quickly
07:30 Why Internal Audit Has Its Biggest Opportunity Yet
10:13 Rethinking Audit Hiring: Specialists Over Traditional Auditors
14:12 Teaching Audit Skills to Technical Experts
16:12 How to Have Tough Conversations About Risk
18:04 AI Use Cases Inside Reddit's Internal Audit Team
21:24 Final Thoughts
 
Be sure to connect with Martin on LinkedIn.
 
Also, be sure to follow us on our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.
 
Also be sure to sign up for The Audit Podcast newsletter and to check the full video interview on The Audit Podcast YouTube channel.
 
This podcast is brought to you by Greenskies Analytics, the services firm that helps auditors leap-frog up the analytics maturity model. Their approach for launching audit analytics programs with a series of proven quick-win analytics will guarantee the results worthy of the analytics hype. 
 
Whether your audit team needs a data strategy, methodology, governance, literacy, or anything else related to audit and analytics, schedule.

This week on The Audit Podcast, Erin Banet, Chief Audit Executive at Humana, joins the show to discuss what goes into preparing audit committee meetings and how the CAE role is evolving beyond traditional internal audit.
 
Erin explains how she builds audit committee agendas, prepares board members throughout the year, and why overcommunication is critical to successful meetings. She also shares how she uses industry publications and AI tools to stay ahead of emerging risks and keep discussions focused on topics like cybersecurity, AI governance, and compliance.
 
The conversation then shifts to enterprise risk management. Erin discusses overseeing ERM alongside internal audit, SOX, and other risk functions, why she began with a maturity assessment, and how combining these responsibilities gives audit leaders a more strategic role within the organization.
 
The episode closes with a discussion on the difference between enterprise risk management and the traditional audit risk assessment, along with practical ad
 
01:17 – Personal AI Use Cases
03:17 – Audit Committee Meetings: Cadence, Preparation & Board Communication
08:13 – Publications, AI Tools & Staying Ahead of Emerging Risks
11:18 – Over-communication Strategies for Audit Committee Success
14:02 – Taking Ownership of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
19:18 – Conducting ERM Maturity Assessments & Building a Roadmap
21:12 – Internal Audit Risk Assessments vs. Enterprise Risk Management
24:13 – Thinking Like a Risk Strategist: The Future of Internal Audit
 
Be sure to connect with Erin on LinkedIn.
 
Also, be sure to follow us on our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.
 
Also be sure to sign up for The Audit Podcast newsletter and to check the full video interview on The Audit Podcast YouTube channel.
 
This podcast is brought to you by Greenskies Analytics, the services firm that helps auditors leap-frog up the analytics maturity model. Their approach for launching audit analytics programs with a series of proven quick-win analytics will guarantee the results worthy of the analytics hype. 
 
Whether your audit team needs a data strategy, methodology, governance, literacy, or anything else related to audit and analytics, schedule.

This week on The Audit Podcast, Casey Atwater, former Head of Audit at ZoomInfo and founder of Internal Audit Collective, joins the show to talk about how AI is changing SOX, internal controls, and the way internal audit work gets done.
 
We focus on what's actually changing in practice. Casey shares why SOX is no longer just a testing exercise, but a design and architecture problem. As systems change faster and AI gets embedded into day-to-day work, the way controls are built and maintained has to change with it.
 
He explains why controls need to live inside workflows instead of being tracked in spreadsheets, and why management will increasingly take ownership of control design and execution. Internal audit still plays a role, but it shifts more toward advising, reviewing change, and focusing on higher-risk areas outside routine SOX testing.
 
We also talk about the gap between automation and complexity. Even though more systems are being added, many organizations are not seeing meaningful efficiency gains in controls. Casey walks through why that mismatch exists and what it means for audit teams.
 
The conversation ends with practical ways audit teams can start adapting now—by reducing redundant controls, looking harder at which systems actually need to be in scope, and working more directly with control owners to fix issues instead of just documenting them. He also makes the point that while tools and AI will change a lot of the technical work, relationships and communication inside the business still matter just as much.
 
1:42 — ControlBridge AI & the future of SOX
16:16 — Continuous monitoring
09:13 — Getting management to own controls
20:18 — AI beyond testing automation
22:24 — Practical actions for audit leaders
25:17 — Final Thoughts
 
Be sure to connect with Casey on LinkedIn.
 
 
Also, be sure to follow us on our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.
 
Also be sure to sign up for The Audit Podcast newsletter and to check the full video interview on The Audit Podcast YouTube channel.
 
This podcast is brought to you by Greenskies Analytics, the services firm that helps auditors leap-frog up the analytics maturity model. Their approach for launching audit analytics programs with a series of proven quick-win analytics will guarantee the results worthy of the analytics hype. 
 
Whether your audit team needs a data strategy, methodology, governance, literacy, or anything else related to audit and analytics, schedule.

This week on The Audit Podcast, Angelo Poulikakos, Global Leader of Internal Audit and Financial Advisory Capabilities at Protiviti, joins the show for a wide-ranging conversation on AI, innovation, and what it means to stay relevant in a rapidly changing profession.
 
Drawing from his experience helping organizations navigate AI adoption, Angelo shares how his own use of AI has evolved, why context matters more than prompts, and how audit leaders can move beyond simply becoming faster and cheaper to delivering deeper insights and greater value. He also discusses Protiviti's internal strategy for embracing AI, building future-ready talent, and transforming how audit work gets done.
 
The conversation explores the balance between human creativity and AI, the importance of critical thinking in an AI-driven world, and why staying hungry to learn, experiment, and innovate is essential for the future of internal audit.
 
2:05 - Creativity, Critical Thinking & Technology
8:13 - From Prompt Engineering to Context Engineering
16:58 = What's Next for AI
19:06 - The EAT Framework for Internal Audit Transformation
29:25 - Final thoughts
 
Be sure to connect with Angelo on LinkedIn.
 
 
Also, be sure to follow us on our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.
 
Also be sure to sign up for The Audit Podcast newsletter and to check the full video interview on The Audit Podcast YouTube channel.
 
This podcast is brought to you by Greenskies Analytics, the services firm that helps auditors leap-frog up the analytics maturity model. Their approach for launching audit analytics programs with a series of proven quick-win analytics will guarantee the results worthy of the analytics hype. 
 
Whether your audit team needs a data strategy, methodology, governance, literacy, or anything else related to audit and analytics, schedule.