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For Professor Rob Fijneman, 2026 marks an important milestone: forty years of professional experience in IT auditing. Over those four decades, technology has changed beyond recognition. The principles underlying trust, governance and accountability, however, have remained remarkably consistent.
When Fijneman entered the profession in the mid-1980s, IT auditing focused largely on centralized mainframe environments, system controls and the reliability of computerized processing. Today, IT auditors operate in a world of cloud platforms, cybersecurity, privacy, artificial intelligence and increasingly complex digital ecosystems.
Looking back, Fijneman identifies five major transformations: from mainframes to networks, from controls to governance, from financial assurance to digital trust, from periodic audits to continuous assurance, and from traditional information systems to artificial intelligence.
From controls to digital trust
As technology became embedded throughout organizations, IT auditing evolved with it. The focus broadened from individual systems and controls to governance, strategy and accountability.
At the same time, digital trust became a much wider issue. Cybersecurity, privacy, resilience and algorithms increasingly affect not only organizations, but society as a whole. IT auditing therefore plays a growing role in assessing whether digital solutions are reliable, secure, fair and accountable.
The next chapter: AI and integrated assurance
Artificial intelligence is accelerating this development. Organizations need confidence in areas such as explainability, accountability, data quality, ethical use and regulatory compliance. Yet one principle remains unchanged: technology can scale decisions, but accountability remains human.
Fijneman sees integrated assurance as an important next step. Rather than addressing cybersecurity, privacy, resilience and AI separately, organizations increasingly need one coherent perspective on digital trust across the technology lifecycle.
After forty years, his conclusion is clear: technology has changed completely, but many of the underlying principles have not. Governance matters, trust remains the objective, education is critical and human judgment remains indispensable.