Qatar chairs 21st meeting of GCC Audit and Accounting Bureaus

The State of Qatar chaired the 21st meeting of the heads of the GCC Audit and Accounting Bureaus, hosted by the State Audit Bureau, Monday.

The meeting comes within the framework of enhancing existing co-operation and exchanging expertise in the field of accounting and financial auditing between counterpart agencies in the GCC, which contributes to raising the efficiency of these agencies' performance to achieve the desired goals, and supporting the process of co-operation and joint work between sister countries.

The President of the State Audit Bureau, Abdulaziz bin Mohammed bin Ahmed al-Emadi, who chaired the meeting, praised in his opening speech the development of audit work in the GCC, indicating that this was achieved thanks to the keenness of the GCC Financial and Accounting Auditing Bureaus to keep pace with developments and apply the best professional practices adopted in the field of auditing and qualifying human resources according to the requirements of efficiency and performance.

He added that the GCC regulatory bodies, as well as the rest of the supreme audit bodies around the world, face new challenges imposed by the developments and innovations taking place in the profession related to confronting cybersecurity challenges and benefiting from artificial intelligence applications and others, stressing that joint Gulf regulatory work is the best way to confront all these challenges, which requires activating co-operation efforts and enhancing joint work in the future.

He pointed out that the agenda includes a number of items related to enhancing co-operation between the GCC countries, which will contribute to developing the capabilities of the oversight bodies and enhancing their position as model institutions to be emulated.

The Secretary-General of the GCC, Jassem Mohammed Albudaiwi said the GCC has achieved great accomplishments that have contributed to reaching many of the goals set by Their Majesties and Highnesses, the leaders of the GCC states, to enhance.

He stressed that the important topics on the meetings agenda, including recommendations on a financial control guide — the general guide, the disaster and crisis audit guide, and the plan to enhance co-operation and partnership with the development initiative, will contribute to achieving greater convergence in the areas of financial and accounting control among the GCC countries.

He noted that the decisions issued by the meeting regarding the approval of a number of regulatory guides that will enhance joint Gulf work in the field of financial control and accounting is the best evidence of the importance of the existing co-operation between the GCC countries in this vital field, indicating that this co-operation goes beyond enhancing financial transparency and credibility to be a fundamental pillar for supporting the sustainable development process.

He added that the GCC states' persistent efforts to enhance transparency and reach an accounting control system led to their distinguished regional and global position.

Many countries and organisations are actively seeking to establish strategic partnerships with the GCC thanks to its credibility, transparency and sustainability in all its national institutions.

The meeting discussed a number of topics related to the updated Financial Control Guide (General Guide), the Disaster and Crisis Audit Guide, and discussed the plan to enhance co-operation and partnership between the Gulf agencies and the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). It also discussed a proposal to enhance audit co-operation across the GCC and the training programs implemented so far for the current year 2024 for employees of the GCC financial and accounting audit bureaus.