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Audit Awards 2026 Winners: Three Professionals Chosen by You

DataSnipper News
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Every year, we ask the audit and finance community one question: who at your organization deserves recognition? This year, hundreds of you answered. Those nominations became a Top 30 shortlist, our jury narrowed it down to nine finalists, and more than 3,700 people voted to pick the winners.

We announced the winners of the Audit Awards live at DataSnipper Connect New York, across three categories: Newcomer of the Year, AI Hero of the Year, and MVP of the Year. Here's who took them home, and the stories behind it.

Meet the 2026 Audit Awards Winners

Newcomer of the Year

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Jesika Ghale, Independent Audit Services

Jesika joined her firm in September 2025. Within months, she had researched the audit AI tools on the market on her own, chosen DataSnipper, and volunteered to lead the rollout herself. She took ownership of the whole thing: timeline, methodology, and training sessions for every member of staff, all while carrying her own audit workload and putting in extra hours outside the working day.

“Since the implementation approximately six months ago, average audit engagement time has reduced by at least 50%, enabling the firm to take on additional work without increasing junior staffing levels. This additional capacity has contributed to nearly $100,000 in additional work won.”

AI Hero of the Year

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Jessica La Guardia, Morgan Stanley

AI Hero of the Year recognizes the person championing AI in audit and finance and bringing their whole team along. Jessica leads the GenAI squad inside Morgan Stanley's Internal Audit department, a group of more than 700 professionals.

Her squad delivers GenAI use cases through the department's in-house Audit Lifecycle Toolkit, which automates complex tasks across audit planning, fieldwork, and issue analysis. The department's AI tools are projected to save more than 10,000 hours a year, and Jessica coordinated testing and training for over 700 colleagues.

“Jess La Guardia is driving a transformative shift in how Internal Audit operates by championing the adoption, governance, and delivery of Generative AI across the audit lifecycle.”

MVP of the Year

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Natasha House, Crowe Australasia

MVP of the Year goes to the person a team can't imagine working without. Natasha has spent 14 years at Crowe Australasia, and she took the largest share of the public vote of any nominee this year. Her nomination describes the unglamorous work of making a team function, not one big project.

“Natasha introduced and maintained a structured team calendar that streamlined scheduling, resource planning, and key audit milestones, ensuring everyone had clear visibility of priorities and deadlines. She also established regular monitoring of file progress, enabling the team to identify bottlenecks early, address issues proactively, and keep engagements on track.”

Celebrating the winners

All three winners received their awards at our annual Connect series, in New York and in Melbourne. Jesika and Natasha are based in Australia and couldn't make the trip to New York, so we brought the celebration to them in Melbourne! It meant a lot to be able to say thank you to each of them in person.
A special thank you to our jury, who selected the nine finalists from the Top 30: Martin Moeller, David Lehmann, Lexy Kessler, and Aadesh Gandhre. And thank you to everyone who took a few minutes to nominate a colleague or cast a vote. You made this possible.

Nominate an auditor who deserves recognition in 2027

This year's winners weren't chosen by DataSnipper. They were chosen by the people who work alongside them.

If someone like Jesika, Jessica, or Natasha comes to mind, put them forward. Nominations for the Audit Awards 2027 open next spring.

Learn more at auditawards.com