After having evolved alongside emerging technologies for decades, the professions of audit, cybersecurity, governance, risk management, and compliance now face another major transition: the rise of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.

But unlike previous technology advancements, modern AI is not merely assisting humans. Increasingly, agentic AI systems can generate software code, modify infrastructure configurations, interact with enterprise applications, execute workflows, and make decisions with limited human intervention. 

As organizations adopt these capabilities, software development and operational changes are occurring at speeds that challenge traditional auditing and governance models. This shift raises an important question for auditors, compliance professionals, and security leaders: How do we govern systems that operate faster than humans can observe and at scales humans can no longer fully inspect?

In the fall 2026 issue of NewsAccount, author Blaise Wabo notes that as AI-powered development tools generate thousands of lines of code in minutes and autonomous agents connect directly to cloud environments, APIs, workflow engines, and business applications, the volume and velocity of these changes are outpacing the practical capacity of manual review processes.

As a result, organizations are beginning to experience new forms of risk:

• AI-generated code that has never been fully reviewed by a human
• Autonomous changes to infrastructure and cloud resources
• Complex interactions between multiple AI systems
• Expanded software supply chain exposure
• New attack vectors such as prompt injection and toxic workflows
• Increased regulatory attention on AI governance and accountability

The question is no longer whether technology can move quickly. Rather, it is whether auditing and governance can keep pace.

A More Sustainable Approach

Shifting the focus of governance offers a more sustainable approach. Instead of asking, "Can we review every change?" organizations should ask, "Can we trust the system that generates, tests, and deploys those changes?"

This distinction is important, Wabo says, and these questions belong at the center of the CPA profession. In the future, governance will depend less on reviewing every output and more on validating the controls, policies, and guardrails embedded within development and operational processes.

In other words, organizations must move from governance by inspection to governance by design.

The article offers insights on how to boost trust in the system and properly assess the systems and controls governing autonomous activity. As well, it explores the convergence of the audit and security functions in ensuring that security controls operate at the same speed as the technology they govern. 

Read the full article, “Trust at Machine Speed: How Audit, Security, and Governance Must Evolve for the Age of Agentic AI,” in the fall 2026 issue of NewsAccount. 

Looking for an opportunity to connect with your COCPA colleagues to discuss technology, its impact on the accounting profession, and future trends? Learn more about the COCPA Technology Users Group.

NewsAccount Reader Pulse: Take a look at the fall issue and let us know what your favorite read is.