At this year’s National Society of Insurance Premium Auditors (NSIPA) Annual Seminar in New Orleans, I had the opportunity to lead a General Session focused on a topic reshaping the future of premium audit: relationships.
My aim was to challenge the traditional view of premium audit as a purely administrative or back-office process, arguing instead that audit functions sit at the heart of revenue integrity, regulatory compliance, customer fairness, and brand reputation.
Premium audit as a relationship engine
Premium Audit is not a back office function – it is a relationship engine that impacts revenue integrity, regulatory compliance, customer fairness, and brand perception. I think one of the clearest themes from the session was that better outcomes come from stronger collaboration; not just within audit teams, but across underwriting, compliance, finance, operations, IT, loss control, HR, and distribution partners.
Breaking down silos, improving communication, and creating shared ownership ultimately leads to more accurate audits, reduced disputes, and better customer experiences.
Building and enabling teams for success
The presentation also explored the importance of building relationship-centric teams grounded in trust, psychological safety, and servant leadership.
From encouraging open feedback to celebrating wins publicly and coaching privately, the session highlighted how high-performing teams are built through empathy, accountability, and shared purpose – not hierarchy alone. Additionally, the session explored the role of “radical candor” in leadership and team development: caring personally while challenging directly.
In an industry built on precision, communication and trust remain critical. Honest, constructive conversations help teams improve faster, collaborate better, and strengthen client relationships.
Drawing on examples from outside insurance, it was important to reinforce the value of testing small, safe-to-fail operational improvements rather than relying on large-scale transformation programs. Incremental experimentation, combined with cross-functional collaboration, can create meaningful operational and customer experience improvements far more quickly.
Mentorship and networking
Finally, the session emphasised that networking often begins closest to home – where internal relationships may become external connections later in one’s career. Networking is less about “collecting contacts” and more about building practical, trusted relationships that improve how work gets done; both internally and across the wider industry.
NSIPA 2026 once again proved to be an invaluable forum for sharing ideas, strengthening connections, and discussing the future of premium audit and insurance operations. It was an honor to present this session, and answer questions related from what we are seeing in the audit industry.
A huge thank you to the NSIPA organisers for hosting such a well-run and engaging event in New Orleans. Pro Global was delighted to be part of the conversation.
Meet our expert
Name: Robert Sherman
Job title: US Head of Audit & Advisory
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