In 2026, auditors are working in an environment defined by AI technologies, heightened scrutiny, regulatory oversight and ethics demands.
Which is why it’s vital that professionals in audit understand this evolving landscape. Additionally, how the regulator ASIC views key issues and what it is focusing on in 2026.
ASIC commissioner Kate O’Rourke is this episode’s special guest and she discusses the evolution of audit and financial oversight at a pivotal time.
This episode explores:
The biggest forces currently reshaping the audit and assurance landscape in Australia
The key areas where ASIC expect firms to lift their performance
The role of digital tools, automation and AI in enhancing audit quality, risk detection, and regulatory oversight
The safeguards, ethical standards, and governance structure ASIC expects firms to put in place when integrating advanced analytics or AI into audit processes
Emerging major international trends
How stronger global alignment could shape the future of Australia’s audit framework
Capabilities that the next generation of auditors need
How regulators, firms, and professional bodies like CPA Australia can work together to build that future-ready workforce pipeline.
Listen now for expert-led insights from ASIC.
Host: Tiffany Tan, audit and assurance lead, CPA Australia.
Guest: Kate O’Rourke, ASIC commissioner. She previously held senior leadership roles at Treasury and has held executive roles at ASIC overseeing corporate transactions and governance. Kate O’Rourke began her five-year term as an ASIC commissioner in September 2023.
ASIC is Australia’s integrated corporate, markets, financial services, and consumer credit regulator. It is an independent Australian government body.
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CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance and accounting:
Search for them in your podcast platform. Email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au
We all want to be happy at work. Or at least happier, don’t we?
Across this conversation, listeners will learn about a foundational concept: Success often follows happiness rather than causes it.
Drawing on research in positive psychology, the episode outlines how mindset, habits and self-awareness account for a large share of overall wellbeing, far outweighing external circumstances.
It also explains how small, consistent practices such as learning to be grateful can recalibrate the brain’s natural bias toward the negative.
Listeners will learn:
The relationship between happiness and leadership
Positive psychology as a field of research
Research data on happiness and how it’s a ‘skill’
The key components of developing workplace happiness and contentment
How to recognise ‘green-light moments’
Ways to shift out of work-related ruts, regain perspective and avoid catastrophising
This Career Hacks episode is a must-listen for anyone looking for that elusive happiness factor at work.
Host: Jacqueline Blondell, Editor, CPA Australia
Guest: Declan Edwards, happiness researcher, speaker, coach and consultant. He is founder of the BU Happiness College, which has a vision of making the skills and science of happiness more accessible to individuals, organisations and the world.
For more information, head to the BU Happiness College on LinkedIn.
Loving this episode? Listen to more INTHEBLACK episodes and other CPA Australia podcasts on YouTube.
Click subscribe on the channel to stay updated on the latest episodes.
CPA Australia publishes four podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting:
Search for them in your podcast platform. Email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au