Master the critical inquiries that expose hidden risks, challenge management assumptions, and transform your audit committee into a powerhouse of corporate governance.
Audit committees are operating in an environment of rapidly increasing complexity, where traditional oversight approaches are no longer sufficient. From emerging technology risks and AI governance to cyber resilience, talent pressures, and cultural oversight, expectations of audit committees continue to expand faster than many boards can adapt.
This session, Audit Committee Effectiveness: Are Boards Asking the Right Questions?, examines the growing effectiveness gap between what audit committees are expected to oversee and what they are currently able to see, challenge, and influence. Drawing on governance trends, common failure patterns, and emerging regulatory expectations, the course provides a practical framework for strengthening board oversight.
Participants will explore how information asymmetry, agenda overload, and over-reliance on management weaken challenge culture—and how Chief Audit Executives can elevate the quality of insight and reporting to support stronger governance outcomes. The session concludes with a practical self-assessment tool and a set of essential audit committee questions for 2026.
Chief Audit Executive | Governance, Risk & SOX Leadership | AI & ESG Integration
Nirpendra (“Nick”) Ajmera is a global audit and risk leader with over 20 years of experience strengthening governance, controls, and decision-making across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. His work spans utilities, telecommunications, manufacturing, IT, logistics, and the public sector, where he has built and led internal audit, SOX, and enterprise risk management functions in complex, asset-intensive environments. In his role as Chief Audit Executive within a major public-sector utility, he leads risk-based audit activities and partners with senior leadership to reinforce governance, enhance accountability, and support organizational performance. His career highlights include leading risk governance during billion-dollar M&A transactions, establishing enterprise-wide audit and risk programs from the ground up, and guiding organizations through transformation and operational change. He has worked across four continents, collaborating with diverse teams and navigating varied regulatory landscapes. Nick is known for his hands-on leadership style, strong ethical discipline, and practical, business-focused approach to strengthening controls and anticipating risk. His thought leadership has been featured in Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors, Kaplan, InternalAudit360, MYCPEONE, New York Weekly, CEO Weekly, Business Today, India Today, and Hindustan Times, reflecting his commitment to advancing the profession through clear and accessible insights. He holds the CA (India), CIA, CISA, and CFE designations, combining deep technical expertise with strategic insight. Outside of his professional work, he writes on internal audit, controls, and governance, and mentors professionals in audit, finance, and risk, supporting their career development with a focus on confidence and integrity.
Provincial regulators of CPAs in Canada do not require that independent providers of CPD be approved to offer courses. Instead, individual CPAs are responsible for assessing whether a CPD activity meets their requirements, and may take activities from any source provided those requirements are met.
Every course offered on LearnFormula is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, and advances learning objectives that are relevant to the responsibilities or professional competencies of Canadian CPAs. All activities on LearnFormula are quantifiable in terms of hours, and are also verifiable, in that users receive documented evidence of their attendance via a certificate of completion after finishing a course (and this certificate is stored by LearnFormula indefinitely). Nearly 100,000 Canadian CPAs successfully satisfy their CPD requirements via LearnFormula on an annual basis.
