Q3 2026 in Review: From Scheduling to Sign-off, All in Audora
Q2 put AI inside the engagement. Q3 brought the work around the engagement into Audora too: scheduling the team, routing approvals, collecting signatures, and keeping auditees in the loop, all in the same place as the testing and reporting.
The biggest additions this quarter: AI Assist now asks, does, and suggests inside the engagement, with Skills your firm can build and reuse. Combined audits let you test once and use the results across frameworks, for example SOC 1 and SOC 2. ISO 27001 is live. And a new scheduling dashboard with calendar and Gantt views shows every engagement on the team's plate in one place. Here's what landed in Q3 2026.
Forty-one updates. Here are the highlights, scroll down for the full story on each one.
Q3 at a Glance
AI Assist — ask, do, and suggest inside the engagement
AI Assist Skills — built-in and custom skills your team can reuse
Combined Audits — test once, use the results across frameworks
ISO 27001 — now supported in Audora
Scheduling Dashboard — one calendar for engagements, holidays, and firm events
Gantt View — engagement tasks by stage, on a timeline
Multi-Step Approvals — sign-off that follows your review workflow
In-App Document Editing — edit your report without leaving Audora
Two-Way Report Sync — report changes update the engagement
E-Signature — collect signatures inside Audora
External Peer Reviewer Role — access limited to the engagements you choose
Auditee Collaboration Dashboard — auditees invite collaborators while you control access
Frameworks & Combined Audits
Test Once, Use Many (4 updates)
More of your clients need more than one report. These updates let one round of testing serve every framework it applies to.
🧩 Combined Audits
Test a control once and use the result across every framework it maps to. SOC 1 + SOC 2 Type 1 and SOC 1 + SOC 2 Type 2 are supported today, with more combinations to come. Shared controls and evidence carry a "Shared" badge, so you can see at a glance what's doing double duty.
🌐 ISO 27001 Support
ISO 27001 is now live in Audora, with its own default template ready to go.
✏️ Edit Criteria & Objectives After Creation
Scope changes after kickoff. You can now update an engagement's criteria and objectives after it's created instead of starting over.
📁 Default Templates for Every Live Framework
Every framework Audora supports now ships with a ready-made template, so you can start an engagement out of the box and tailor it from there.
AI Capabilities
AI That Speeds Up the Work, You Keep the Judgment (3 updates)
Audora's AI runs on the same audit process your team already follows. It drafts and organizes, and the auditor reviews and decides.
🤖 AI Assist: Ask, Do, and Suggest
Ask about an engagement's controls, evidence, and areas of concern, and AI Assist answers based on the work assigned to you. In Do mode it drafts testing notes for you to review. Save a prompt and it can run on a schedule, so recurring checks happen without anyone remembering to start them.
🧠 AI Assist Skills
Start from built-in skills like failing and exception tests, outstanding evidence, scope overview, and prep for the client sync, or create your own so the whole team runs the same checks the same way. Past chats are saved and searchable.
🎙️ Walkthrough Transcripts for Testing
Load a walkthrough transcript, document, or spreadsheet, and AI adds the relevant detail to the control for you to review and update. Building on Q2's transcript-to-interview fields, this brings the same help into testing.
Integrations
Connect the Tools Your Firm Already Runs On (1 update)
Keep the tools you rely on and let Audora connect them, so engagement updates reach your team where they already work.
🔌 Slack & HubSpot Integrations
Audora now connects with Slack and HubSpot, with more integrations on the way.
Engagement Management & Scheduling
Run the Whole Engagement From One Place (7 updates)
Scheduling, status check-ins, and approvals used to live in spreadsheets and inboxes. Now they sit next to the audit work.
📅 Scheduling Dashboard
Plan engagements, holidays, and firm events across your team on one calendar. Drag an unscheduled engagement onto the calendar to schedule its fieldwork.
📈 Gantt View for Engagement Tasks
See engagement tasks by stage (Plan, Assess, Fieldwork, Report, Completion) on a timeline. Swap back to the list view anytime.
🚦 Stage Progress Cards
Each stage shows its date range, how many tasks are complete, and an overdue flag when it slips, so you can tell where an engagement stands without opening it.
🗂️ Expanded Engagement Management Template
Track the project side of the engagement alongside the audit work: weekly status check-ins, client meeting logs, evidence request reminders, kickoff notices, and more.
✅ Multi-Step Approvals
Engagement tasks with approvals now support multiple approval steps. Set the order to match your review workflow, and the task doesn't complete until everyone has signed off.
🏢 Improved Client Portfolio View
An improved view of all your clients and their audits in progress.
🚀 Easier Engagement Creation
A cleaner, simpler flow for setting up a new engagement.
Evidence & Testing Workflow
Fewer Gaps, Less Chasing (8 updates)
Most engagement delays start with evidence. These updates help you request it right the first time and review it faster once it arrives.
📐 Define Your Audit Testing Methodology
Set your firm's testing methodology in Audora so every engagement runs the same way, whoever is on the team.
🗃️ File View for Evidence Requests
Review evidence by the attached files and documentation instead of only request by request.
📎 Attachments on New Evidence Requests
Attach a file when you create an evidence request, like a sample selection, so the client has everything they need in one place.
🔗 URL Links as Evidence References
Reference evidence and files stored in an external location with a URL link.
⚠️ SharePoint Access Banner
When a client adds a SharePoint link without granting you access, Audora flags it right away, so you're not waiting days to find out you can't open it.
🗺️ System Scope Tab
Keep track of the systems and subsystems in scope for the engagement in one dedicated tab.
🗂️ Tabbed Control & Evidence Views
Controls and evidence now open in tabs that are easier to navigate, including Notes and an audit trail showing who completed each stage, from review to approval.
🔢 Grid Edit
Update multiple items at once in a grid instead of opening them one by one.
Reports & Documents
Draft, Edit, and Sign Without Leaving Audora (3 updates)
In Q2 you could view documents in Audora. Now you can edit them, keep them in sync with the engagement, and get them signed.
📝 In-App Document Editing
Edit your report in Audora with full .docx functionality. Changes save automatically, and the document editor got a fresh new look this quarter.
🔄 Two-Way Report Sync
Change a control ID in your report and the control updates in Audora automatically. The report and the engagement stay in step.
✍️ E-Signature
Collect signatures inside Audora instead of sending documents out to a separate e-signature tool.
Collaboration & Communication
Work Together Without Stepping on Each Other (4 updates)
More people working in the same engagement means more chances to overlap. These updates keep everyone in sync, auditees included.
💬 Engagement Chat
Chat now sits on the main engagement page, alongside the Scratchpad, so conversations stay with the engagement they're about.
👀 Presence Indicator
See when someone else is working in the same field, so two people don't overwrite each other's work.
🤝 Auditee Collaboration Dashboard
Auditees can invite their own collaborators and track status from a dashboard, while you stay in control of who has access.
💾 Live Saving Across the Platform
Your work saves as you go across Audora, with no save button to remember.
Security & Access Control
The Right Access for the Right People (4 updates)
Access needs change across an engagement. These controls let you give each person exactly what they need, for only as long as they need it.
🔍 External Peer Reviewer Role
Give an external peer reviewer access to only the engagements you select. Nothing else in your Audora is visible to them.
⏳ 90-Day Auditee Engagement Access
Auditee access to an engagement now expires after 90 days to reduce risk. Auditees keep their Audora login and still see the engagement on their overview, but the results are no longer open if someone leaves.
🏷️ Custom Role Names per Framework
Name roles the way your firm uses them for each framework.
👥 User Management Improvements
See an on-screen overview of each role's capabilities as you set up users for support or for audits, assign roles per engagement, and disable or re-enable users.
Customization & Notifications
Your Audora, Your Way (2 updates)
Every firm runs a little differently. These settings let you shape Audora around how your team works.
🎛️ Profile-Level Tailoring
Choose what you see and what you hide across the platform from your profile.
🔔 Expanded Notification Settings
Notification settings now reach across your engagements and the platform, so you choose exactly what you want to hear about.
Navigation & Visual Design
Faster to Find, Easier on the Eyes (5 updates)
A cleaner look across the platform and fewer clicks to get where you're going.
🎨 Platform-Wide Visual Refresh
Redesigned drawers, a new icon set, and a refreshed homepage make the platform feel more consistent from screen to screen.
📄 Redesigned Templates Page
The templates page has been redesigned to be clearer and easier to understand.
📊 Improved Criteria & Objective Dashboards
Better viewing, filtering, and sorting for criteria and objectives make review faster.
📜 Lists Load as You Scroll
Task and control lists load as you scroll, so you're not paging through multiple views to find what you need.
⌨️ Ctrl/Cmd+F Uses Audora Search
On pages with an Audora search bar, Ctrl/Cmd+F now opens it instead of the browser's search. Pages without one still use the browser search.
Coming Soon
A look at what's already in flight for the rest of the year:
More Integrations, Including Drata — more of the tools your clients use, connected to Audora.
Pre-Check & Readiness Assessments — run readiness work in Audora, with AI built into readiness engagements.
Report Grader — check a report against the standards before it goes out the door.
Vanta Audit Readiness Page — work with a specific Vanta audit inside Audora and flag gaps before kickoff.
HITRUST & PCI-DSS Framework Support — new frameworks, plus more combined-audit flexibility.
Simpler Template Creation — easier template setup, with more support along the way.
More Templates — letters, agendas, scoping documents, and more.
FAQs
Q: What is AI Assist in Audora and what can it do?
A: AI Assist is Audora's in-engagement AI, expanded in Q3 2026. Auditors can ask about an engagement's controls, evidence, and areas of concern, and AI Assist answers based on the work assigned to them. In Do mode it drafts testing notes for the auditor to review, and saved prompts can run on a schedule. Skills let a firm start from built-in checks, such as failing and exception tests or outstanding evidence, or create its own so every team runs the same checks the same way. AI Assist drafts and organizes the work. It does not conclude whether a control passes; that judgment stays with the auditor.
Q: What are combined audits in Audora?
A: Combined audits let auditors test a control once and use the result across every framework it applies to. SOC 1 + SOC 2 Type 1 and SOC 1 + SOC 2 Type 2 combined audits are supported today, with more combinations to come. Shared controls and evidence are marked with a "Shared" badge, so the team can see what's covering more than one framework. One round of testing replaces separate, duplicated testing for each report, which saves fieldwork time and keeps results consistent across frameworks.
Q: Does Audora support ISO 27001 audits?
A: Yes. ISO 27001 support went live in Q3 2026 with a default template, so firms can start an ISO 27001 engagement out of the box. Audora also supports SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 2 + HIPAA, CMMC (mock and certification assessments), and custom audits for any engagement with evidence and mappable controls. HITRUST and PCI-DSS support are on the roadmap, along with more combined audit flexibility.
Q: How does Audora help audit firms schedule engagements across the team?
A: Audora's scheduling dashboard, added in Q3 2026, puts engagements, holidays, and firm events on one calendar. Unscheduled engagements sit in a side list, and dragging one onto the calendar schedules its fieldwork. Inside each engagement, a Gantt view shows tasks by stage (Plan, Assess, Fieldwork, Report, Completion), and stage progress cards flag anything overdue. Multi-step approvals route sign-off through the firm's review workflow, so a task isn't complete until every approver has signed off.
Q: How does Audora control access for peer reviewers and auditees?
A: Audora added an external peer reviewer role in Q3 2026 that limits a reviewer's access to only the engagements the firm selects. Auditee access to an engagement now expires after 90 days, which reduces the risk of results staying open after someone leaves the client; the auditee's Audora login stays active. Firms can also give auditees a collaboration dashboard to invite their own collaborators and track status, with the auditor controlling who has access. These join Audora's existing controls, including SSO, MFA, a customizable inactive account disabler, and a full audit trail.
Q: Can I edit and sign audit reports inside Audora?
A: Yes. As of Q3 2026, auditors can edit reports in Audora with full .docx functionality, and changes save automatically. Two-way report sync keeps the report and the engagement aligned: change a control ID in the report and the control updates in Audora. E-signature is now built in, so signatures can be collected without sending documents out to a separate tool.
