MENLO PARK, Calif., March 13, 2025 -- Global consulting firm Protiviti has announced the winners of the inaugural Audit Innovator Award. This prestigious recognition highlights the transformative impact of innovation and critical role of creative problem-solving in developing new, effective, and technology-enabled solutions.
Protiviti's Audit Innovator Award program, supported by The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and AuditBoard, aims to inspire and recognize forward-thinking approaches that enhance audit processes and drive meaningful change. The winners were announced at the IIA's Great Audit Minds 2025 conference, held from March 10-12, 2025, in Kissimmee, FL.
Andrew Struthers-Kennedy, Global Lead of Internal Audit Solutions at Protiviti, presented the awards during the conference. "We are thrilled to celebrate the achievements of these outstanding innovators that have demonstrated exceptional creativity and dedication to advancing the internal audit profession," said Struthers-Kennedy. "Their contributions are a testament to the power of innovation in driving business success and fostering a corporate culture of continuous improvement.
"In the pursuit of transformation, we believe any new perspective, adaptation, or evolution of an established practice can spark impactful change," Struthers-Kennedy said.
The winners of the 2024 Audit Innovator Award are recognized in two categories:
- Audit Strategy and Transformation: This category honors individuals or teams who have implemented bold strategies to elevate and transform audit processes and address emerging risks. The winner in this category is DTCC's Internal Audit Department, represented by Arpit Shah, DTCC's Head of Audit Analytics and Innovation Team and Beven Jacob, Executive Director, for inspiring a digital-first mindset with their Digital Champion Leaderboard. The Leaderboard platform uses gamification to incentivize digital-forward behaviors by encouraging audit staff to implement efficiencies, promote innovative audit practices through the usage of data analytics and emerging technologies, and focus on overall upskilling efforts. "It is an honor to be recognized with the Audit Strategy and Transformation award. This award is a testament to our team's dedication to excellence and our commitment to transforming and advancing audit processes," said Shah.
- Enabling Technology: This category celebrates those who have revolutionized the use of technology within internal audit. The winner in this category is a major pet supplies e-commerce platform represented by Alan Maran, Head of Internal Audit, and Wesley Raider, Associate Director. They were recognized for their groundbreaking solution, which revolutionizes internal audit by leveraging rich internal data and specialized tools to transform audit planning and testing. "This is an amazing accomplishment and recognition from our leading practices in the industry in the field of Internal Audit. To achieve this award, we embarked on a journey a few years back, with a strategic focus on data analytics that evolved into the adoption of emerging technologies to enhance our process efficiencies," said Maran.
Through these awards, Protiviti aims to foster an innovative and collaborative community where internal audit professionals can leverage new approaches to navigate new risks with confidence and be viewed as strategic advisors amid technological advancements and global challenges.
"This Award program emphasizes the critical role of creative problem-solving within Internal Audit. Those being recognized embody a strong commitment to innovation that serves as inspiration to their organizations and the entire profession," said Anthony Pugliese, President and CEO of the IIA. "The IIA is a very proud sponsor of this program, and we have all be highly energized in seeing the level of interest, engagement, and progress around innovation within the profession. It is an exciting time to be an internal auditor."
Visit Protiviti.com to learn more about the 2024 Award winners. Sign up to join our innovation community and be in the know about the 2025 Award season application period, launching in Q3 2025.
About Protiviti
Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) is a global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration to help leaders confidently face the future. Protiviti and its independent and locally owned member firms provide clients with consulting and managed solutions in finance, technology, operations, data, digital, legal, HR, risk and internal audit through a network of more than 90 offices in over 25 countries.
Named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® list for the 10th consecutive year, Protiviti has served more than 80 percent of Fortune 100 and nearly 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies. The firm also works with government agencies and smaller, growing companies, including those looking to go public. Protiviti is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Half (NYSE: RHI).
About The Institute of Internal Auditors and Internal Audit Profession
Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and advisory service designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control processes.
The Institute of Internal Auditors (The IIA) is an international professional association that serves more than 260,000 global members and has awarded more than 200,000 Certified Internal Auditor® (CIA®) certifications worldwide. Established in 1941, The IIA is recognized throughout the world as the internal audit profession's leader in standards, certifications, education, research, and technical guidance. For more information, visit theiia.org.
About AuditBoard
AuditBoard is the leading cloud-based platform transforming audit, risk, compliance, and ESG management. More than 50% of the Fortune 500 leverage AuditBoard to move their businesses forward with greater clarity and agility. AuditBoard is top-rated by customers on G2, Capterra, and Gartner Peer Insights. To learn more, visit: AuditBoard.com.
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