Leading players from the regional internal audit sector were at recent Dubai seminar to discuss the trends, challenges and critical issues facing the frontline of the profession.

The first Chief Audit Executives Conference was organised by the UAE Internal Audit Association in Dubai which brought together chief audit executives, audit directors and senior managers from the region.

Malcolm Walker, general manager and group chief audit officer of National Bank of Abu Dhabi, spoke about the new challenges and opportunities for Internal Audit post the financial crisis.

'Internal Audit is now viewed as a strategic partner to businesses and a key influencer of corporate strategy, behaviour and outcomes,' he stated.

Speaking at the two-day seminar, Khalid Faddagh, general auditor of Saudi Aramco, highlighted that an organisation’s value creation is dependent on its operational risk management capabilities and its control processes.

'It also depends crucially on the ability to align risk strategy through an effective Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) programme among stakeholders, management and the strategic planning functions,' he added.

The key speakers included Larry Hubbard, founder of Larry Hubbard and Associates; Neeraj Kumar, senior VP Internal Audit, Emirates; Roderick Winters, GM- Financial Operations, Microsoft; Joe Ioculano, group head of internal audit and audit committee secretary, Mubadala and Basil Hantouli, chief audit executive, Majid Al Futtaim.

In his concluding speech, Abdulqader Obeid Ali, president of UAE Internal Audit Association, said: 'We had a successful week starting with the 12th Regional Gulf Audit Conference followed by the First Chief Audit Executives Conference.'

'We had over 400 participants in all and the events brought together Internal Auditors to discuss issues of vital importance to the profession. It also acted as an important networking event for the industry and gave us an opportunity to discuss how we can work together to ‘shape the future,’” he added.-TradeArabia News Service