Preparing Audit Teams for Swarm Auditing

About this episode

The Institute of Internal Auditors Presents: All Things Internal Audit Tech

Internal audit is no longer operating in a world of fixed scopes and hindsight reviews. As risk becomes continuous, digital, and increasingly driven by AI-enabled decisions, audit must evolve just as quickly. In this episode, Aadesh Gandhre is joined by Dave Montez and Richard Penfil from PayPal to introduce swarm auditing; an emerging approach that combines human judgment with orchestrated AI agents working in parallel. They discuss how audit functions can move beyond prompt libraries, embed AI directly into audit workflows, and rethink the assurance operating model without sacrificing independence or professional judgment. HOST: Aadesh Gandhre, CISA Chief Audit Executive, DTCC GUESTS: Dave Montez Chief Audit Executive, PayPal Richard Penfil Data Science Manager, Audit Operations, PayPal

KEY POINTS:

• Introduction to Swarm Auditing and the Limits of Traditional Audit Models [00:00:02–00:01:25]

• Why Audit Must Evolve for Continuous, AI-Driven Risk [00:01:40–00:03:26]

• From Static Audit Cycles to Constant Evolution [00:03:27–00:04:17]

• The "Flip Phone in a Smartphone World" Analogy [00:04:54–00:05:12]

• The Mindset Shift Required for Swarm Auditing [00:05:48–00:07:32]

• Cultural, Legal, and Psychological Barriers to AI Adoption [00:07:36–00:08:41]

• Failing Forward and Creating Permission to Experiment [00:08:49–00:09:54]

• From Doers to Reviewers: How the Auditor's Role Evolves [00:10:02–00:11:28]

• Responsiveness to Change as a Core Audit Skill [00:11:40–00:12:29]

• Building AI for Audit vs. Adopting Enterprise AI [00:12:39–00:14:23]

• Making Space for AI Experimentation Within the Audit Plan [00:14:32–00:16:35]

• Embedding AI Into Daily Audit Workflows [00:16:45–00:18:45]

• What Swarm Auditing Really Means [00:19:00–00:20:39]

• Managing Independence While Sharing AI Capabilities [00:21:10–00:22:32]

• Moving Beyond Prompt Libraries to Agentic Swarms [00:23:38–00:25:03]

• Collaboration Across Audit Functions and the Profession [00:25:14–00:27:09]

• One Meaningful First Step Toward Swarm Auditing [00:27:50–00:28:25]

• Closing Thoughts on the Future of Audit and Innovation [00:28:31–00:29:26]

IIA RELATED CONTENT: Interested in this topic? Visit the links below for more resources:

• GAM 2026
• 2026 Analytics, Automation and AI Virtual Conference
• AI Knowledge Centers
• Learning Solutions: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in Internal Audit
• Global Internal Audit Standards

Visit The IIA's website or YouTube channel for related topics and more. Follow All Things Internal Audit: Apple Podcasts Spotify Libsyn Deezer