You Can’t Automate Accountability: AI Governance for the Modern CFO

November 18, 2026 @ 4:15 pm - 4:40 pm

  • Theater 5

About Session

Here’s the question every CFO will eventually have to answer out loud: how was this number produced? “The model generated it” is not an answer .there is no AI-specific SOX or auditing standard. There is also no exemption. AI is already inside the financial close — drafting flux commentary, assisting reconciliations, reviewing contracts — usually without a control narrative covering it. TIn this session, we’ll cut to what the PCAOB, COSO, and the Big 4 have actually published, why COSO now treats the audit trail as the control itself, and how to classify AI use by its distance from a financial-reporting decision. If your team has AI in the close but not in the control documentation, this session is for you.

Learning Objectives:

  • Recognize where AI already touches internal control over financial reporting, and classify each use by its proximity to a financial-reporting decision.
  • Discuss what the PCAOB, COSO, and the major accounting firms have published on AI in financial reporting, and distinguish authoritative guidance from practitioner commentary.
  • Cite the five questions a SOX auditor will ask about AI-assisted controls, and the audit trail elements required to answer them.

Speakers

Ravi Malhotra

Ravi Malhotra

Vice President, Heartbeam

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