Auditor Proud Day 2026: Insights from BDO Ukraine Audit Leaders

On 24 September 2026, we celebrate our auditors across the globe and recognise the vital role they play in both strengthening both our network and our profession.

This year, we will highlight the strength of our Audit community and the expertise, integrity and dedication our people bring to clients, colleagues and communities, every day.

To bring this story to life, we have interviewed leaders, sharing their authentic perspectives. Their insights will demonstrate that, while working in different markets, we are all united as ONE BDO, through a shared commitment.

This year, we're putting the voice of our audit leaders at the heart of Auditor Proud Day. Through a series of short interviews, we bring their perspectives, experiences and passion to the forefront, creating an authentic celebration of the people and purpose behind our profession.

Sergiy Balchenko, Audit Director

What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?

What makes me proud is that our people have kept looking ahead, even while dealing with the realities of war. Keeping the practice running matters, but so does giving colleagues a future to work towards. Across BDO in Ukraine, we recorded 125 training hours per employee in FY2025. Our strategy builds on that through technical development, digital skills and a commitment to mentoring for every young professional. Resilience means investing in people, not simply expecting them to cope with more.

What unique role do auditors play in creating confidence?

Our distinctive contribution is independent challenge. We are engaged by a business, but our responsibility extends to the people who rely on its financial reporting. That means asking difficult questions and being prepared to communicate difficult conclusions. For me, integrity is what makes that role valuable. We do not create confidence by giving the most reassuring answer. We create it by reaching a conclusion that is supported by evidence and explaining it honestly.

How is innovation changing audit, and why does human insight remain essential?

Our direction is to embed technology into the audit process, rather than treat it as a separate initiative. BDO’s global investment in audit tools supports that, while our Ukrainian strategy puts digitalisation alongside learning and quality. My test is not simply whether a tool saves time. It is whether it helps us reach better-supported conclusions. Technology can strengthen an audit; responsibility for the audit opinion remains with us.

Oleksandr Nikolayenko, Key Audit Partner

What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?

I am most proud of our auditors’ willingness to keep learning and questioning. Our strategy combines technical development and professional qualifications with greater knowledge-sharing across BDO. As a partner, I see my role as helping people turn that knowledge into sound judgement: understanding why a risk matters, what a conclusion depends on and when an explanation needs to be challenged. The auditor of the future needs more than new tools — they need the confidence to think independently when the answer is not obvious.

What unique role do auditors play in creating confidence?

Integrity matters most when the answer is uncomfortable or uncertain. We have to be willing to question assumptions, consider conflicting information and be clear about the limitations of our conclusions. In Ukraine, I would never want confidence to mean pretending that uncertainty has disappeared. Acknowledging uncertainty can strengthen trust. Our role is to help people understand what the financial reporting tells them, not to give reassurance regardless of what we find.

How is innovation changing audit, and why does human insight remain essential?

Technology can help us identify patterns and direct our attention more quickly. But identifying a pattern is not the same as understanding it. An unusual movement might reflect a genuine change in operations, an error or something requiring further investigation. That distinction needs context and judgement. I want technology to make our questions sharper, not make us less questioning. The auditor must still decide what the information means and what to do next.

 

Liliya Chernysh, Key Audit Partner

What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?

What makes me proud is seeing people contribute to the future of the firm, not only their current assignment. Younger colleagues helped shape our Ukrainian strategy, bringing forward ideas about development, mentoring and the support they need. I think that participation matters: people should have a voice in the profession they are helping to build. For auditors, preparing for the future also means learning to understand different perspectives, collaborate and explain complex issues clearly — alongside developing technical and digital competence.

What unique role do auditors play in creating confidence?

For me, the connection between audit and society is very tangible in Ukraine. Our strategy places recovery, donor-funded programmes and international investment at its centre. Those relationships need credible financial information and accountability. Auditors contribute through independent scrutiny, not by endorsing a project or promising that an investment is safe. Our role is to make financial reporting more trustworthy, so that others have a stronger basis for their own decisions. That is an important contribution to long-term confidence.

How is innovation changing audit, and why does human insight remain essential?

Innovation is also changing how we work together. Our strategy connects the development of AI with closer cooperation across BDO, including knowledge-sharing and cross-border delivery. The opportunity is to bring more expertise to an engagement, wherever that expertise sits. But its value still depends on people who understand the business and its circumstances. Global capability becomes valuable when it is matched with local judgement. For Ukraine, that combination is particularly important: international expertise must be applied with a real understanding of operating during war.

Viktor Korenyak, Deputy Head of the Department, Audit Department

What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?

As a senior manager, I am proud of teams that can adapt without losing sight of the quality of their work. Our firm’s commitment to flexible working and mental-health support is especially important during war. My role is to translate that people-first approach into thoughtful planning, coaching and time for review. Future skills are not developed only in a training room. They grow when people understand the reasoning behind an assignment, receive useful feedback and gradually take on greater responsibility.

What unique role do auditors play in creating confidence?

For me, integrity is visible in what happens long before a report is signed. Does a colleague feel comfortable raising a concern? Do we explore it properly? Are we prepared to revisit our conclusion? Our strategy describes a culture where mistakes are identified and corrected, rather than hidden. That culture is part of how we earn trust. People relying on our work need the benefit of a team that questions, reviews and challenges itself — not just a completed set of procedures.

How is innovation changing audit, and why does human insight remain essential?

Our digital infrastructure helps teams work across locations, which is particularly important in Ukraine. But a shared file is not the same as shared understanding. Someone still needs to connect the evidence, challenge the reasoning and recognise when a matter needs further discussion. As we develop more technology-enabled workflows, that is where I want us to invest the time we gain. For me, successful innovation creates more room for thoughtful review, not less need for it.

Svetlana Savitskaya, Deputy Head of the Department, Audit Department

What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?

What I find most rewarding is helping a young colleague move from following instructions to explaining their own reasoning. That is a real step in becoming an auditor. Our Ukrainian strategy commits to a mentoring pair for every young professional, and I want to make that meaningful through practical guidance and feedback. Especially during war, people need to feel that their careers have not been put on hold. We should help them build confidence in their knowledge, their judgement and their ability to ask questions.

What unique role do auditors play in creating confidence?

Integrity often starts with a simple decision: not to leave a question unanswered because it feels awkward. It also means being open when something needs correcting. Our strategy makes that an explicit part of our quality culture. As a manager, I want less-experienced colleagues to know that their questions matter. Speaking up is part of audit quality, not a challenge to it. That openness helps the whole team produce work that deserves the confidence placed in it.

How is innovation changing audit, and why does human insight remain essential?

AI creates an opportunity to spend less time preparing a first draft and more time understanding the work. But a junior colleague must still be able to check the output and explain the reasoning. I would not measure progress simply by how quickly someone uses a tool. I would ask whether they can explain why the result makes sense. Learning to use AI must go alongside learning how to question it. That is how technology can support professional development rather than bypass it.

Nataliya Liakh, Deputy Head of the Department, Audit Department

What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?

I am proud of colleagues who are willing to learn something new without switching off their critical thinking. Our Ukrainian strategy already includes a formal AI policy and service-line working groups. The next step is to develop AI-enabled workflows, so our skills need to grow alongside the tools. From a manager’s perspective, that means helping people understand both the possibilities and the boundaries. Being future-ready means using new tools thoughtfully, not simply using more of them.

What unique role do auditors play in creating confidence?

As more of our work becomes digital, integrity also means protecting the information entrusted to us. It means being transparent about how technology supports our work and never treating an automated output as unquestionable. BDO’s responsible AI approach keeps confidentiality and human accountability at its centre. Stakeholders need confidence not only in our conclusions, but also in how we reach them. For me, responsible use of technology is now inseparable from professional integrity.

How is innovation changing audit, and why does human insight remain essential?

Technology can improve consistency and help us examine information more efficiently. That creates space for more focused analysis. But a useful result still depends on the question we ask, the information we use and how we interpret the output. As a manager, I want people to be comfortable challenging the tool as well as using it. The value lies in a better audit decision, not simply a faster result.

Olga Zaporoshchenko, Deputy Head of the Department, Audit Department

What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?

I am proud of the care our people show for one another, as well as their commitment to the work. During war, those two things belong together. Despite all the challenges, our auditors continue to perform their work responsibly and to a high standard, while continuing to learn and develop professionally.

Our firm supports continuity through backup power, cloud infrastructure and flexible working, while making safety and well-being a priority. That gives professional development a foundation. People need the space to learn, not just the pressure to deliver. As a manager, I want colleagues to feel able to ask for help, share knowledge and keep developing.

What unique role do auditors play in creating confidence?

I believe we need to understand the pressures a client faces without allowing those pressures to dictate our conclusions. In Ukraine, that distinction is particularly important. We can listen carefully, communicate respectfully and recognise difficult circumstances while remaining independent. Empathy should influence how we communicate, not whether we challenge. For me, confidence grows when people see that we understand their situation, but also know that our professional judgement is not negotiable.

How is innovation changing audit, and why does human insight remain essential?

Our strategy puts digitalisation and people development alongside each other, and that is the balance I would like us to preserve. My hope is that better tools give us more time for the conversations that matter: understanding a concern, discussing a difficult judgement or helping a colleague learn. Those moments should not disappear as our work becomes more digital. Technology should give us more time to think and talk to each other, not less.

On Auditor Proud Day, we thank our colleagues who combine professional judgment, responsibility, and a commitment to growth every day. It is thanks to people like them that auditing remains a profession that helps build trust and enable well-informed decisions. At BDO in Ukraine, we wish our auditors new professional achievements, exciting projects, mutual support, and confidence in their expertise.