IIA holds Audit Awareness Fest

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) held the Audit Awareness Festival in Doha recently as a celebration to elevate the profession and promote it to audit customers, executive management, boards of directors and local communities. May is International Internal Audit Awareness Month — an opportunity to promote the profession and its important role in corporate governance, internal control and risk management, the IIA has said in a statement.“Building awareness – year round – is essential to elevating the image of the internal audit profession. The month of May, however, is designated to focus on internal audit awareness-building efforts. In line with this, the Qatar chapter organised a full-day technical event supported by top audit and consulting organisations; Protiviti, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young. With 150 members participating, it was a successful event,” said Christian Adonis, event chair. Hassan al-Mulla, president, opened the meeting, while Fahad al-Marri, senior vice-president, made the concluding remarks.The first technical session was a panel discussion on the topic, ‘Data is the new oil: is internal audit ready?’, while the second session was on ‘Why should internal audit’s focus be aligned with the corporate goals of the entity?”. ‘What value addition does internal audit bring?’ was the theme of the third session, and another session dealt with ‘How can co-sourcing assist internal audit to be relevant and focus on key business risks?’. “It‘s an exciting time to be in internal auditing – one of the most attractive and dynamic professions today. The IIA Qatar chapter plays a vital role in promoting the profession through specialised knowledge sharing events, training and education. This helps in strengthening organisations and protecting stakeholders to manage risks, promote corporate governance, transparency and ensure that policies, procedures and controls are in place,” said Sundaresan Rajeswar, director on the board.