Ep 282: Why Culture, Not Tech, Drives Audit Innovation w/ Andrew Struthers-Kennedy and Arpit Shah (Audit Innovator Award)

This week, internal audit leaders Andrew Struthers-Kennedy and Arpit Shah join the show.   They bring a perspective grounded in real-world innovation—leading a team that's been recognized with the Audit Innovator Award two years in a row. They share how their approach goes beyond tools and technology, focusing instead on mindset, leadership, and creating an environment where ideas can take shape.   The conversation centers on how innovation really happens inside audit teams. From using AI as a day-to-day thinking partner to building and deploying solutions quickly, they break down what's working in practice. They also walk through the Innovator Award—how it started, what it recognizes, and why showcasing real examples of progress in the profession matters.   This is a quick, practical episode packed with insights on experimentation, leadership, and how teams of any size can start making progress—without waiting for the perfect solution.   Be sure to connect with Andrew and Arpit on LinkedIn.   5:17 - AI Problem Solving 12:27 – Using AI for Real Life Logistics 22:30 – Prioritizing Tax Data Accuracy in the Audit Plan 30:05 – How Their Audit Team Is Structured for Innovation 32:11 – Final thoughts   Be sure to connect with Mark on LinkedIn. Also, be sure to follow us on our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.   Also be sure to sign up for The Audit Podcast newsletter and to check the full video interview on The Audit Podcast YouTube channel.   This podcast is brought to you by Greenskies Analytics, the services firm that helps auditors leap-frog up the analytics maturity model. Their approach for launching audit analytics programs with a series of proven quick-win analytics will guarantee the results worthy of the analytics hype.    Whether your audit team needs a data strategy, methodology, governance, literacy, or anything else related to audit and analytics, schedule.