The fifth national conference on internal audit, which will for the next two days discuss threadbare issues regarding the profession in the Gulf region, got off here yesterday.
HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, chairman of the Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development, inaugurated the three-day conference being organised by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Qatar chapter.
Established in 1941, the IIA is an international professional association with global headquarters in Altamonte Springs, Florida, the US and has more than 180,000 members. “Internal audit is an integral part of any economy/company that is looking for transparency,” al-Attiyah, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry, said.
The role of internal audit is to provide independent assurance that an organisation’s risk management, governance and internal control processes are operating effectively.
He narrated how Qatar Petroleum, during his tenure as Energy Minister, was able to establish an independent department of internal audit, which was directly accountable to the board of directors; unlike the previous regime that existed under the department of finance.
Elaborating how the country’s bellwether institution was transformed; he said in the beginning people viewed it (establishing an internal audit department) with an eye of suspicion but later everyone hailed the internal audit department as it was able to detect “excesses” in the system.
IIA Qatar chapter president Hassan al-Mulla said his chapter is keen to develop internal audit as a profession and it was in the right path of supporting Qatar’s National Vision 2030. He said the conference, through which knowledge transfer is expected, will discuss in detail the issues regarding internal audit in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Internal auditors deal with issues that are fundamentally important to the survival and prosperity of any organisation.
Unlike external auditors, they look beyond financial risks and statements to consider wider issues such as the organisation’s reputation, growth, its impact on the environment and the way it treats its employees.
Audit Bureau Qatar president HE Sheikh Bandar bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani also spoke at the conference, whose main theme is “Auditing Matters”.
Chris Adonis, conference chairman, gave an overview of the upcoming international conference of the IIA in Vancouver, Canada in July this year; where sessions will address real-world solutions to real-world problems.