New from Bead: The Audit Leader’s Guide to AI for SOX TestingRead the book

The Audit Leader's Guide to AI for SOX Testing

A short, opinionated field guide for Internal Audit leaders on making AI agents work inside a SOX program.

  • Agents
  • Audit Trail
  • ROI
  • 90-Day Pilot
  • Build · Buy · Configure
  • Evidence
  • External Audit

8 chapters · ~90 minutes · PDF + print. Vendor-neutral.

Cover of The Audit Leader's Guide to AI for SOX Testing

What's in the book?

Get a clear overview of AI Agents. Understand where they are useful, how to apply them, and the limitations.

1. The Manual Machine
  • The Director's Chair
  • The Numbers
  • The Budget Squeeze
  • The Team Tax
  • This Is Accelerating
2. Why SOX Automation Failed
  • Why SOX Evidence Is Uniquely Hard
  • What RPA Got Right, and Where It Broke
  • Prompts
  • Why Prompt Libraries Stall
  • Key Takeaways
3. What AI Agents Actually Are
  • The Comparison: Prompts vs. Agents
  • So What Is an Agent?
  • What Changed in 2025
  • Why a Bigger Prompt Is Not the Answer
  • The Six Components of an Agent
  • Key Takeaways
4. Where AI Agents for SOX Testing Work Now
  • Evidence Intake and Pre-Testing Validation
  • C&A Testing
  • Transactional Controls and Population-Level Testing
  • Complex Spreadsheets
  • Screenshot- and Log-Heavy ITGC
  • UAR and Access Provisioning
  • Where to Be Careful
  • Use Cases Map
  • Key Takeaways
5. The Audit Trail That Makes It Defensible
  • Why Prompts Are Not Workpapers
  • The Five Layers of a Defensible AI Agents Audit Trail
  • Walkthrough: The Five Layers in Action
  • Why AI Agents for SOX Can Enhance Manual Testing
  • External Audit Readiness
  • The Regulatory Guidance
  • Key Takeaways
6. Build, Buy, or Configure
  • The Three Paths
  • Path 1: Configure
  • Path 2: Build
  • Path 3: Buy
  • How to Evaluate
  • Beyond the Pilot
  • Common Mistakes
  • Key Takeaways
7. The Internal Case
  • The Foundation
  • Establishing the Baseline
  • The ROI Calculation
  • The 90-Day Pilot
  • Pick the Right Pilot
  • The Pilot Scorecard
  • The CFO Memo
  • Key Takeaways
8. The Next 18 Months
  • More Autonomous Audits
  • Evidence Collection Will Change First
  • From Periodic Testing to Broader Monitoring
  • Auditing Agents vs. Auditing Humans
  • From Discrete Cycles to Continuous Loops
  • The Enterprise Trust Layer
  • What Stays Stubbornly Manual
  • What Changes for the Team
  • Key Takeaways