With so many critical and emerging risks facing organizations today, it is hard for auditors to know where to spend their limited time and resources. Internal Auditors need to adopt new strategies to keep up with the needs of their organizations. For many audit teams, this means searching for automation and technology solutions that support their work and help them scale up by taking on time-consuming manual tasks. AuditBoard’s Webinar Series brought together internal audit thought leaders, consultants, and practitioners who shared actionable best practices audit professionals can use immediately to effectively and efficiently assess the risks and controls within their organizations.
In 2023, AuditBoard hosted 43 audit, risk, and compliance webinars that attracted over 61,000 attendees. The outstanding speakers for AuditBoard’s webinars covered emerging risk topics impacting organizations like auditing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) programs, cybersecurity, integrated risk management (IRM), and artificial intelligence (AI). The speakers covered topics related to specific industries, risk management enabling technology, collaboration, and emerging risk trends. As a bonus, we were able to grant over 51,000 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits to support a variety of assurance certifications. In this article, we share the primary trends from the audit webinars we hosted in 2023 and how you can access our most popular webinars of the year, which are now available to watch on demand.
2023 Audit Webinar Trends
The most popular audit webinars followed three trending topics: automation, emerging risks, and resilience. The increased capability of automation and purpose-built audit technology has opened the potential for auditors to offload manual tasks and focus on more strategic auditing. In doing so, the audit team shifts away from routine audit areas and can spend their precious time on emerging risks that concern senior management.
AuditBoard’s Most Popular Audit Webinars of 2023
As you explore the many topics available as on-demand webinars, these are the most popular audit sessions from 2023, in no particular order.
- 2024 Risk in Focus: Hot Topics for Internal Auditors – The IIA’s Harold Silverman shared insights from the latest Risk in Focus report for North America, including the top risk areas that auditors are tackling in the next year. This benchmarking data will help you evaluate your audit plan as you think ahead to 2024.
- Attendee Feedback:
- “Harold Silverman is a great presenter and speaker. One of my most favorite sessions all year!”
- “Excellent presentation! The slide deck contained excellent suggestions on how to address important current and emerging risks.”
- “Very informative. Reinforced my belief that IA has a lot to offer an organization and should be valued for their perspective.”
- “Great webinar! Not too technical and full of interesting information about the audit industry.”
- Attendee Feedback:
- Ctrl+Alt+Audit: Breaking the Mold with Automation – Knowing that automation is the key to modernizing the audit approach, Audit leaders from CrossCountry Consulting joined AuditBoard in discussing the strategic reasons why automation is a necessity for businesses seeking to optimize resources, mitigate risks, and accelerate growth. They also shared a real-world use case, illustrating how automation seamlessly integrates with internal control testing, elevating audit efficiency and precision.
- Attendee Feedback:
- “Excellent introduction to the topic. My organization is still not ready to pursue the benefits of automation, but this was good information to help them get ready. Thanks for the discussion.”
- “I found this session helpful, especially the comments on how to operationalize automation and picking quick wins.”
- “Excellent presentation! Thank you for introducing me to intelligent automation.”
- “This was insightful, particularly, the automation landscape and maturity models.”
- Attendee Feedback:
- SOX Evolution: Tech Adoption and Cost Focus Amid Cyber and ESG Mandates – Protiviti publishes a Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Survey annually. Protiviti and AuditBoard discuss the opportunity for automation in SOX compliance that can have a far-reaching impact on other compliance efforts like ESG and cybersecurity disclosures.
- Attendee Feedback:
- “It was a very interesting and informative presentation. I learned a lot about SOX.”
- “Good presentation. Presenters were well informed.”
- “It was a great webinar session. Lots of new and practical information shared.”
- “Great data points to back up the information being presented!”
- Attendee Feedback:
- Third-Party Risk Management: Utilizing Technology and Incorporating Into the Annual Audit Plan – Third-party risk management (TPRM) has come into the spotlight as a significant risk in recent years. Partner organizations expose companies to IT, operational, strategic, and reputation risks that are difficult to control. Experts from RSM US LLP explain how third-party risk management technology continues to evolve to make TPRM programs more efficient and enhance the ability to monitor vendors continuously.
- The Ethical Internal Auditor: Keeping an Eye Out for Your Blind Spots – While auditors are independent within their organization, they are still susceptible to blind spots. Richard Chambers explains how internal auditors must conform to the profession’s code of ethics and bring a strong moral compass to their role to earn and sustain trust in the organizations they serve. Internal auditors must guard against a temporary inability to see the ethical aspect of behaviors or decisions.
Stay Up to Date With Timely Thought Leadership
AuditBoard’s on-demand webinars address compliance teams’ most critical concerns and contain a wealth of information that will enhance your skill set and prepare your team as new challenges to auditors arise. As we start the new year, the internal audit best practices covered in these webinars will continue to play an important role in compliance. Now is the perfect time to revisit the expert guidance provided in the on-demand webinars above and so many more, and register to earn free CPE credits in AuditBoard’s 2024 Webinar Series.
