Advertise on podcast: Speaking of Risk and Audit

Host Richard Chambers interviews April Crichlow, CMO of Optro, about marketing to the internal audit profession, the company’s customer-driven approach, and the strategy behind renaming AuditBoard to Optro. They discuss how Optro balances cutting-edge AI features with practical outcomes, builds trust with professional bodies, and advises chief audit executives on communicating value to leadership and boards.

Richard Chambers talks with Justin Greenberger, Optro's Chief Customer Officer, about his journey from GE internal audit and enterprise IT to leading customer success at a practitioner-founded SaaS company. The episode covers how practitioner experience shapes customer engagement, methods for measuring customer health and proving hard ROI (including reclaimed reporting time and reduced SOX hours), and strategies for aligning audit technology with broader company priorities. They also discuss the practical adoption of agentic AI and autonomous testing—change management, human-in-the-loop governance, traceability to build trust, and tactical advice CAEs can use to start their AI transformation journey.

Richard Chambers sits down with Kieran Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Midship, to discuss Midship's acquisition by Optro and their agentic AI that reduces SOX testing from 16 hours to under 15 minutes. They cover how the autonomous testing engine integrates with Optro, preserves Excel workflows, produces auditable evidence, and automates up to 85% of SOX controls—especially ITGCs. The episode also explores where human judgment will remain essential, how auditors should prepare for ad hoc testing and managing AI agents, and what the future of internal audit looks like as agentic AI scales across the profession.

Richard Chambers interviews Anthony Pugliese, President and CEO of the Institute of Internal Auditors, on the profession's evolution over the past five years. They discuss the rapid rise of AI, the growing trend of second-line functions moving under chief audit executives, and the IIA’s advocacy and stakeholder initiatives like the Global Audit Committee Center. The episode also highlights the IIA’s Faces of Internal Audit campaign for Internal Audit Month and offers guidance for young auditors, emphasizing technology fluency and human intelligence skills as keys to future relevance.

Richard Chambers speaks with KPMG partner Charles King about how internal audit is adapting to AI, data analytics, and emerging cyber threats. They cover practical AI use cases for audit planning, testing, and reporting, and stress the importance of curiosity, technology skills, and governance. Charles also warns about the overlooked risk of post-quantum cryptography and urges audit teams to prepare. The episode balances audit rigor with innovation and offers advice for leaders wanting to build momentum with agentic AI while maintaining professional skepticism.

Richard Chambers interviews Guru Sethupathy, Optro's General Manager of AI Governance, on practical approaches to governing AI. Guru outlines the "three Ps" framework—policies, processes, people—and explains why rapid advances like agentic AI increase risks around performance, security, and transparency. They discuss regulatory pressures, the need for orchestration and continuous monitoring, and how cross-functional collaboration and technology can enable effective AI governance across organizations.

On the day AuditBoard becomes Optro, CEO Raul Villar Jr. discusses the company’s rebrand, its AI-powered expansion across audit, risk, compliance, and infosec, and how a recent acquisition strengthens its leadership in AI governance. He explains how the new identity supports international growth, preserves customer experience, and positions Optro to transform risk into opportunity with agentic systems of action.

Richard Chambers interviews Richard Penfill of PayPal about using data science and AI in internal audit, exploring how prompt libraries, AI agents, and a new concept called "swarm auditing" streamline analytics and testing. The episode covers practical challenges (the "bridge tax"), governance and risk concerns, use cases for agent orchestration, and how AI will shift auditors toward judgment, ethics, and strategic oversight.

Richard Chambers interviews Margie Bastolla, an audit report–writing expert, trainer, and author, on effective audit reporting. They examine common reporting errors, including unclear effect statements and weak root-cause analysis, and discuss practical techniques to write reports that resonate with high-level readers. Margie also discusses the role of AI as a research assistant, the importance of critical thinking, and trends toward shorter, more visual reporting that still prioritize a clear message.

In this episode Richard Chambers interviews Mike Peppers, Chief Audit Executive at the University of Texas System, about his decades-long career in internal audit—especially in higher education and public service—and his role leading the overhaul of the Global Internal Audit Standards. They discuss the public-sector audit environment, the standards' new guidance for public-sector and small audit functions, the importance of governance, and practical steps for auditors to embrace emerging technologies like AI and ensure maximum impact by 2030.

Richard Chambers hosts Michael Rasmussen and Renee Murphy to discuss how AI is reshaping cyber risk, regulation, and the role of GRC and internal audit. They explore AI governance, regulatory change management, digital twins for compliance, and the need for data maturity. The episode emphasizes auditors’ opportunity to move from being the compliance police to being resilience enablers, using AI to scale coverage, reduce grunt work, and orchestrate risk across business silos to minimize surprises.

Richard Chambers interviews Sandro Boeri about the AuditBoard 2025 Culture and Ethics Report, exploring why culture matters, the research behind the findings, and the evolving role of internal audit in assessing behavioral risk. The episode covers key takeaways including the need for cross‑functional collaboration, better metrics and incentives as early warning indicators, the IIA Global topical requirement on organizational behavior, and practical recommendations for internal audit, risk and compliance teams.

Richard Chambers and Trent Russell discuss how AI is actually being used in internal audit in 2025 — separating hype from practical reality, common use cases like anomaly detection, report writing, risk assessment, and continuous auditing, and the importance of governance and humans-in-the-loop. They cover challenges such as hallucinations, data sensitivity, AI anxiety, and how small teams can gain outsized benefits, concluding with a look at a future where routine testing (e.g., SOX) becomes largely automated and auditors shift toward oversight and higher‑value activities.

Richard Chambers interviews former Comptroller General Dave Walker about the growing U.S. national debt, its risks to the economy and national power, and the urgent need for fiscal responsibility. They discuss Social Security’s funding challenges, lessons from history, the role of the GAO and auditors in providing foresight, the limits of short-term fixes like Doge, and the case for a comprehensive strategic plan to transform government and restore investor confidence.

In this episode Richard Chambers interviews Amanda Pope, SVP of Audit and Risk at InComm Payments, about leading a compact internal audit team in a fast-moving fintech environment. They discuss team structure, co-sourcing strategies, and the importance of broad business knowledge for auditors. The conversation covers InComm’s risk assessment approach, use of AuditBoard and AI to increase capacity and consistency, and persistent concerns around cybersecurity, privacy, and regulation. Amanda shares practical advice on balancing agility with oversight in a privately held company.