New Wolters Kluwer TeamMate webinar polling identifies AI, data and emerging technology oversight as the leading governance pressure facing internal audit professionals
Summary
Polling during a TeamMate webinar found that 56.1% of respondents see AI, data, and emerging technology oversight as their organization’s biggest governance pressure, about three times the next-highest response. Only 30.8% said their risk management is integrated across strategy, operations, and assurance, and the most popular choice for internal audit’s future role was a strategic foresight function.
AI, data and emerging technology oversight is creating the greatest governance pressure for organizations, as internal audit professionals also signal a desire for the profession to take on a more forward-looking role, according to new polling from Wolters Kluwer TeamMate, a global provider of audit and GRC expert solutions.
The polling was conducted during an October 27, 2026, webinar, “The Future of Internal Audit in a Converging World,” presented by Liz Sandwith, an internal audit and risk management consultant for TeamMate. It drew responses from nearly 1,800 participants.
Key findings include:
- 56.1% identified AI, data, and emerging technology oversight as the governance pressure most stretching their organization, compared with 18.6% for cyber and operational resilience and 15% for regulatory complexity and stakeholder scrutiny.
- Only 30.8% described their organization’s risk management as integrated across strategy, operations, and assurance. The largest group, 35.2%, said it was partially integrated but still function-led.
- 30.4% said internal audit should aspire to become a strategic foresight function with independent assurance at its core, the leading response. Another 29.7% selected an assurance and advisory partner, while just 16.3% chose an independent assurance provider.
The challenge for internal audit teams is that these risks increasingly intersect. During the webinar, Sandwith noted that AI, cybersecurity, resilience, regulation, and other risks now collide, even as many organizations continue to manage, assure, and report them separately.
“A new AI use case may trigger data, cyber, legal, ethical, and reputational questions all at once,” said Sandwith. She argued that governance models need to connect those issues rather than sending each to separate committees without an enterprise-wide view.
How can internal audit respond to interconnected risks?
Sandwith pointed to an opportunity for internal audit to help organizations create what she calls a “golden thread” connecting strategy and objectives with risk appetite, principal risks, controls, and assurance. When those elements operate as separate conversations, organizations can struggle to understand whether assurance is providing meaningful confidence over their most important risks.
Building that connection also points to a broader role for internal audit. Rather than concentrating primarily on retrospective assurance, Sandwith said leading functions are expanding their focus to provide confidence over strategic, transformational, and emerging risks, bringing independent evidence, insight, and foresight closer to important decisions.
The shift could change how internal audit measures its value. Traditional metrics such as audits completed, recommendations raised, and reports issued remain useful, but Sandwith challenged internal audit functions to consider a larger question: whether their work gives boards and audit committees greater confidence that their organizations are better governed and more resilient.
Methodology
The findings presented in this article are based on audience polling conducted during the webinar. Participation in individual poll questions was voluntary, and the number of responses varied by question. The three poll questions cited received 1,759, 1,789, and 1,636 responses, respectively.
About Liz Sandwith
Liz Sandwith is an internal audit and risk management consultant for Wolters Kluwer TeamMate, with 36 years of experience in the internal audit profession. She is a member of The IIA's Professional Certification Board and a former member of its Standards Board. She previously served as head of assurance, risk and compliance and as head of internal audit – operations at Bupa, and as head of internal audit at Channel 5. She has also worked with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and the Electoral Commission, and has advised local authorities on internal audit and risk management.