loader image
Exploring the ideas, questions and human capabilities shaping the future of internal audit

Beyond IIA IC Singapore 2026

A curated series of reflections from the IIA International Conference Singapore 2026
- Connecting session insights with the judgment, courage, trust and adaptability required of the evolving auditor.

40 Sessions. One Continuing Conversation.

The IIA International Conference Singapore 2026 brought together powerful conversations on the future of internal audit, risk, governance and leadership.

Across the sessions I attended and the recordings I returned to afterwards, one message stayed with me: our profession will not be shaped by technology, standards or methodology alone.

It will also be shaped by our ability to exercise judgment, stay curious, build trust, challenge constructively, adapt with courage and remain connected to purpose.

To make the learning more intentional, I began revisiting one session at a time and sharing reflections on what its ideas might mean for the evolving auditor, audit leader, risk professional and governance practitioner.

These are not session summaries. They are reflections on the questions, provocations and practical insights that emerged viewed through  the lend of the human evolution needed for our profession to remain relevant, trusted and valuable.

This series reflects the spirit of The Evolving Auditor: elevating the human capabilities behind the profession.

This page brings together all of the reflections from IIA International Conference Singapore 2026 in one place.

Marina Bay Sands

Explore these reflections, carry the questions into your context, and join the conversation.

40 Reflections for the Evolving Auditor

1. Smarter tools need stronger people

In her opening address at the IIA International Conference Singapore 2026, Minister Indranee Rajah reminded us that smarter tools need stronger people; auditors able to question, interpret and govern AI wisely.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

2. Independence does not mean isolation

In their opening session, Anthony Pugliese and Stefano Comotti explored why independence should not mean isolation but the ability to bring objective, anticipatory insight into the conversations where risk, trust and strategy are being shaped.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

3. AI Can Produce Answers. Judgment Still Needs Humans.

In AI Showdown for the Future-Ready Auditor, Bonnie Tse and Zeyu Song creatively pitted different LLMs against one another on familiar audit tasks showing both AI’s practical potential and why professional scepticism and human judgment must remain in charge.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

4. The Audit Plan Is Not a Promise. It Is a Hypothesis.

In Closing the Gap: Aligning Audit Priorities with Emerging Risks, Jenny Tan, Jim Pelletier and Shagen Ganason explored why audit plans must remain dynamic, continually tested against changing risks, stakeholder concerns and the organisation’s future priorities.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

5. Transformation Begins with Leadership, Not Technology

In Balancing Bold: Women Leading Internal Audit’s Transformation, Katleen Seeuws, Marisol Pantoja, Joanna Sheppard and Nai Zhiyun explored how transformation depends on leaders who create the trust, clarity and space for people to contribute, learn and grow.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

6. Risk Management Needs More Imagination

In From Uncertainty to Clarity: Risk Strategies for the New Normal, Imran Zia challenged static risk thinking, urging auditors and leaders to look beyond heat maps and thresholds, and consider how context, culture and interconnected uncertainty shape real decisions.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

7. Public-Sector Audit Is, at Its Heart, a Business of Trust

In Future Ready Internal Audit in the Public Sector, Beili Wong, Esther Wee, Annie Boudreau and Benito Ybarra reflected on how future-ready public-sector audit must combine innovation with stewardship, strengthening trust in how resources, decisions and outcomes are governed.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

8. AI Will Not Differentiate Internal Audit. Auditors Will.

In Group Audit Intelligent Assistant: Harnessing Generative AI in Internal Audit, Chiara Ziliani and Luca Veghini showed how Generali’s GAIA can enhance audit work while reinforcing that technology only creates value when auditors apply sound judgment, curiosity and accountability.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

9. 17 seconds to Internal Audit's midnight

In 17 Seconds to Midnight: Internal Audit’s Existential Epoch, Tom McLeod challenged auditors to rethink familiar methods in a world of abundant information where discernment, timely insight and trust matter more than simply gathering evidence.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

10. Innovation Needs a Playground to Become Practice

In Embrace Innovation: Lessons from an Internal Audit-Focused AI Hackathon, Elizabeth Sullivan and Aadesh Gandhre showed how safe experimentation, clear guardrails and real audit problems can help auditors turn ideas into practical innovation.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

11. Transformation Begins with Courage to Look Honestly

In Evolving with Purpose: The Internal Audit Transformation Journey, Ahmad Alshangiti and Mohamed Katamish shared how Mobily combined honest diagnosis, stakeholder trust and purposeful capability-building to make transformation more relevant and sustainable.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

12. Three Lines Should Not Become Three Silos

In From Lines to Links: The Three Lines Rewired, Matej Drašček challenged auditors to preserve objectivity without creating distance — building stronger collaboration and clearer assurance as emerging risks cut across traditional boundaries.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

13. A Crisis Plan Is Not Proof of Readiness

In When Geopolitics Hits Home, Karina Misko explored why crisis readiness is more than having a plan — it depends on people’s ability to stay steady, use judgment and adapt when reality does not follow the scenario.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 14: Thorns and Roses: Feedback as a Growth Tool

Feedback, like roses, carries both beauty and thorns. When offered with empathy and balance, it strengthens trust, deepens learning, and helps governance grow stronger rather than defensive.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 15: The Language of Nature: Sensing Signals in Silence

Silence is never empty. For auditors, it can reveal hidden truths – hesitation, fear, or unspoken trust gaps. Listening beyond words allows insight to emerge and transforms quiet moments into powerful opportunities for connection and understanding.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 16: The Biodiversity of Thought in Audit Teams

Just as a thriving garden depends on diversity, so too does an effective audit team. When varied perspectives, experiences, and skills come together, blind spots shrink and insight deepens,  creating a richer, more resilient audit ecosystem.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 17: Fertilizing Curiosity - Questions that Cultivate Insight

Curiosity is the nutrient that feeds meaningful audits. When auditors shift from checklist thinking to genuine inquiry, conversations deepen, risks surface, and insight grows. A curious question opens doors, reveals patterns, and keeps learning alive for both auditors and stakeholders.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 18: The Hidden Garden - Culture Audits with Care

Culture is the quiet soil beneath every decision. It shapes how people respond to risk and how governance truly works. When auditors approach culture with curiosity rather than force, hidden truths emerge and trust grows.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 19: Gardeners Don’t Shout: The Quiet Impact of Presence

Influence does not always come from volume. Like gardeners, auditors shape outcomes through steady attention, calm clarity, and patient presence. When we listen fully and act without haste, trust grows and conversations shift from defensiveness to collaboration.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 20: Natural Rhythms - Knowing when to intervene

Effective governance depends as much on timing as on action. Like skilled gardeners, auditors add the greatest value when they sense when to pause, when to nudge, and when to step in decisively — aligning interventions with the natural rhythm of people and systems.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 21: Inviting Butterflies: Making Audit Conversations Safe

Trust settles only where people feel safe. When auditors approach conversations with curiosity and respect, openness replaces defensiveness and truth can emerge. Psychological safety turns even difficult audit discussions into moments of insight and transformation.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 22: Pruning Without Harm: Auditing with Compassion

Audit recommendations can shape growth or damage trust. When delivered with care, intention, and timing, they remove what no longer serves and allow healthier practices to flourish. Compassionate pruning strengthens the whole system rather than wounding it.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 23: Tuning into Intuition Before Structure

Before structure comes sensing. When auditors pause to listen, observe, and trust their professional intuition, patterns emerge that no checklist can reveal. Intuition, when held long enough to be explored and then tested, sharpens judgment and deepens understanding.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 24: The Auditor’s Inner Compass: From Intuition to Insight

Intuition is not bias but experience quietly organizing complexity. When auditors allow intuitive signals to surface and explore them with curiosity, those early impressions become powerful starting points for inquiry and insight.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 25: From Intuition to Evidence: Letting Insight Find Its Proof

Intuition is the beginning, not the conclusion. When auditors follow early signals with disciplined inquiry and evidence, judgment matures. Insight guides where to look, and evidence confirms what is true, strengthening confidence without compromising rigor.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 26: From Hunch to Harvest: Turning Insight into Judgment

Intuition starts the journey, but judgment completes it. When auditors test what they sense, weigh evidence carefully, and take responsibility for their conclusions, insight becomes accountable professional judgment, earning trust and strengthening governance.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 27: Tools in the Shed: Extending Human Judgment with Data and Technology

Data and technology are tools, not conclusions. When auditors use analytics and AI to test what they sense and stay longer with the question, judgment becomes more disciplined, not diminished. Human responsibility remains at the center.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 28: The Gardener Still Decides: Accountability in an Age of Intelligent Tools

Technology can inform, accelerate, and sharpen insight, but it cannot carry responsibility. In an AI-enabled audit, judgment and accountability still rest with the auditor who interprets the data and stands behind the decision.
🔗 Read the full reflection here

Week 29 — Auditing for Understanding, Not Just Findings

Findings without understanding rarely create change. When auditors move beyond gaps and exceptions to explore why systems behave as they do, conversations shift from defensive to developmental, creating insight that strengthens governance.
Read the full reflection here

Week 30: From Hunch to Harvest: Turning Insight into Judgment

Intuition starts the journey, but judgment completes it. When auditors test what they sense, weigh evidence carefully, and take responsibility for their conclusions, insight becomes accountable professional judgment, earning trust and strengthening governance.
🔗 Read the full reflection here


Bhavani Jois The Evolving Way - Auditor
Book a call