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Our new whitepaper, “Lead the AI Transformation of Internal Audit”, explores how a Human-Centric AI Audit approach can help audit leaders keep the human auditor firmly at the helm while using AI to support repetitive, structured, and data-intensive activities across the audit lifecycle.

The essay outlines a practical five-level AI maturity journey-from building individual AI capability and establishing a Best-Practice Prompt Library, through Retrieval-Augmented Generation and Enterprise Audit Intelligence, to the use of specialised AI agents and increasingly advanced workflow orchestration.

However, technology is only one side of the equation.

As automation takes over more routine work, the distinctly human capabilities of Internal Auditors become even more valuable: critical thinking, professional scepticism, judgment, active listening, stakeholder influence, and the ability to communicate a clear “red thread” from audit evidence to management action.

The central message is simple:

AI can become a powerful navigation system for Internal Audit. But the human auditor must remain at the helm.

The question is no longer whether Internal Audit should prepare for this transformation.

The question is: Are you ready to lead it?

Receive the whitepaper cost-free.

6 CPE

How to make better decisions during your internal audit engagements?

1 CPE

2026 Audit Challenge Conference | Siebrand Wolberink

5 CPE

Several training sessions on different internal audit methodology topics. Be part of the unique audit movement for Audit Championship!

Next-Level Audit Communication Techniques: Using HiANCA Neuroscience to Drive Impact

Leverage the power of neuroscience to enhance your audit communication. Transform the way you communicate with business counterparts and team members by leveraging the latest insights from brain research. Learn how to structure your language, adapt your behaviour, and engage stakeholders effectively, ensuring your audit findings are accepted and drive meaningful organizational change.

Suggested training duration: Three half‑day sessions (total 1.5 days)

Target Group: Training for Internal Auditors as Team Members

Training Description
Internal auditors are often at the frontline of critical discussions, navigating challenging conversations with business counterparts and team members. This training equips internal auditors with neuroscience-based communication techniques to enhance their interactions, improve collaboration, and strengthen audit outcomes.

By understanding how the brain processes information and emotions, participants will learn to adjust their communication style for greater impact, gain buy-in on audit findings, and resolve conflicts with ease. This course focuses on practical tools that auditors can apply immediately, from conducting interviews and gathering information to presenting audit results. The techniques covered will help auditors foster stronger relationships with business units, handle pushback effectively, and ensure their audit insights are implemented.

This training ensures that auditors develop communication skills that are aligned with the latest cognitive research, making them more persuasive, adaptable, and effective in their roles.

Learning Objectives:

1.        Understand the principles of brain-based communication and their impact on audit interactions.

2.        Master the art of presenting audit findings in a way that resonates with business counterparts, senior management.

3.        Learn to influence decision-making by aligning your communication with how the brain processes information.

4.        Gain conflict resolution techniques to handle pushback and disagreements with business units.

5.        Develop active listening skills to gather deeper insights during interviews and audit discussions.

6.        Tailor your communication style to the specific needs and emotional triggers of different stakeholders.

7.        Learn to build trust with auditees by understanding the cognitive and emotional factors influencing their behavior.

8.        Improve collaboration within audit teams through enhanced interpersonal communication techniques.

9.        Develop skills to ensure audit recommendations are accepted and implemented by business units. 

Audit Training Agenda:

1. Introduction to Brain-Based Communication for Auditors

• Understanding how the brain processes communication
• The link between emotions, behaviour, and decision-making
• Aligning communication with cognitive processes for better audit outcomes

2. Presenting Audit Findings with Impact

• Techniques for structuring and delivering audit results effectively
• Tailoring communication to resonate with business counterparts
• Engaging stakeholders through neuroscience-backed strategies

3. Communicating with Senior Stakeholders and Audit Committees

• Techniques for presenting audit findings to strategic stakeholders
• Engaging senior management with neuroscience-backed methods
• Structuring audit reports and presentations for maximum impact

4. Emotional Intelligence in Audit Communication

• Understanding the role of emotions in decision-making
• Building trust and rapport during audit discussions
• Applying emotional intelligence to defuse conflicts and manage difficult conversations

5. Managing Pushback and Resolving Conflicts in Audits

• Techniques for handling resistance to audit findings
• Neuroscience-based conflict resolution strategies
• Ensuring collaboration even during challenging discussions

6. Customizing Communication for Different Audiences

• Tailoring your communication to different stakeholder types
• Adapting your message to resonate with operational teams, middle management, and executives
• Case studies: How customized communication leads to better audit outcomes

7. Building Trust with Business Units

• Applying emotional intelligence to foster trust
• Using brain research to understand and address emotional triggers
• Creating long-term positive relationships with business counterparts

8. Improving Team Collaboration Through Communication

• Enhancing communication within audit teams for better collaboration
• Techniques for managing interpersonal dynamics within teams
• Aligning team communication strategies with audit objectives

9. Practical Applications and Case Studies for Internal Auditors

• Real-world scenarios where brain-based communication improved audit outcomes
• Hands-on exercises to refine communication strategies with auditees
• Feedback sessions to enhance communication skills in audit environments

17th November, 2026 | 13:30 - 17:00 CET
18th November, 2026 | 13:30 - 17:00 CET

Fundamentals first – before bad habits and AI shortcuts set in.

An audit report is internal audit’s business card – for many stakeholders, it’s the only contact with audit they will ever have. Yet most new auditors learn testing first, documentation second, and writing on the job – if at all.

This workshop builds the foundation in the right order: what audit reports are for, who actually reads them, and what those readers need – because stakeholders drive what auditors write. From there, it moves to the audit finding, the building block of every report, and what makes a finding effective.

AI will happily draft a finding for anyone. But a writer who doesn’t yet know what a good finding looks like cannot judge what AI hands them. This workshop builds that judgment – brains first, then AI.

This is a working workshop: activities build the skill of constructing effective findings step by step, with group and trainer feedback – participants leave having written real findings, not just heard about them.

What changes:

–     New auditors understand the why before the how – reports exist to change something, not to document effort.

–     Stakeholder thinking starts on day one – who reads audit reports, and what each reader needs from them.

–     Findings stop being intimidating – writers know the pieces, how they fit, and where to start.

–     First drafts become usable drafts – reviewers inherit workable material instead of blank-page struggles.

–     Confidence arrives early – before the fear of the empty page sets in.

For: New internal auditors – and anyone writing their first audit reports, whatever path brought them to audit.

Next step: Deep Dive: Findings, when they’re ready to go deeper.

Working material: Everything is provided – no prior audits, findings, or reports needed. Participants learn what a good finding looks like from the start – not from past reports sitting in the archive.

Trainer:
Tracie Marquardt is a 2024 and 2025 Beacon Award recipient and sought-after Audit Results Strategist. She helps Chief Audit Executives and their teams transform audit results through communication, leadership, and productivity.

As an audit reporting expert, Tracie addresses audit's core challenge: deriving and communicating results that add value to stakeholders. She guides teams in redesigning outdated audit report templates and builds their capability to deliver exceptional reporting at the intersection of human judgment and AI-driven communication.

Tracie has trained 13,000+ international internal auditors across industries. She is a keynote speaker at audit conferences worldwide.

She launched Inspiring Women in Audit in 2024, the industry podcast amplifying women's voices in internal audit around the globe. The podcast has a supporting LinkedIn community of over 600 internal audit professionals.

1 CPE

2026 Audit Challenge Conference | Richard Penfil

1 CPE

2026 Audit Challenge Conference | Abbas Al Lawati

1 CPE

2025 Audit Challenge Conference | Jorge Badillo Ayala

1 CPE

2026 Audit Challenge Conference | Jorge Badillo Ayala

5 CPE

To integrate the right solutions into audit interviews and closing meetings, how can I better understand the conversational styles of my business counterparts?

24th November, 2026 | 09:00 - 12:30 CET

Objective

Most major governance failures are not caused by missing controls, but by how people behave under pressure, incentives, and organizational silence. This seminar introduces Behavioral Risk Analytics as a structured approach for making the human dimension of risk observable, measurable, and auditable. Participants will learn how behavioral drivers, leadership tone, psychological safety, and incentive systems influence decisions and control effectiveness. The seminar explains how Behavioral Risk Indicators can complement traditional Key Risk Indicators by identifying conditions for failure before an incident occurs. It also demonstrates how behavioral analysis can be integrated into audit planning, fieldwork, root cause analysis, and Board reporting. Practical cases and an implementation roadmap help participants transfer the approach to their own organizations.

Agenda

• Why traditional control testing often fails to identify behavioral risk
• Behavioral Risk Analytics, Behavioral Risk Indicators, and maturity models
• Integrating behavioral analysis across the Internal Audit lifecycle
• Lessons from major international corporate failures
• Behavioral Risk Dashboards, AI, and practical implementation

Trainer
Torben Hilbertz is an international Board Member, Chair of several Audit Committees, and an experienced Governance, Risk, Finance, and Internal Audit leader with close to 30 years of international experience across Europe and the Middle East.

He currently serves as a Board Member and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of a publicly listed healthcare group, chairs the Audit Committees of two leading FinTech entities, and is an Audit Committee Member of a growing airline.

Previously, Torben held senior Internal Audit leadership positions at SWISS International Air Lines, Abu Dhabi Airports, and Abu Dhabi Health Services Company. He has built and transformed Internal Audit, governance, and risk management functions across aviation, healthcare, financial services, logistics, and international corporate groups.

He began his career with Arthur Andersen and combines extensive Board and executive experience with deep expertise in Corporate Governance, Behavioral Risk Management, data analytics, and the future development of Internal Audit. Torben holds the CIA, CFE, and CC professional certifications.

1 CPE

The Trend Is Your Friend Series

1 CPE

How to learn insights about ESG-Sustainable Development Goals?

1 CPE

How to learn insights about ESG-Sustainable Development Goals?