The Institute of Internal Auditors with Scientific Accounting Association held a successful seminar at Ibn Khaldoun Hall, Qatar University on Operational Auditing “What are the Criteria Larry Hubbard a professional trainer from USA presented synopsis from his just developed Operational Auditing intensive workshop research material.

Things to remember on often confused scope of operational auditing were listed. Auditor should develop criteria to evaluate against operations they audit- and it must be agreed in advance with the management and we think this is a better way is not acceptable Larry stated. Operational auditing is still auditing and not the same thing as consulting. Consulting requires direct experience and expertise in the operations while auditing requires experience and expertise in applying the agreed upon criteria and familiarity with the operation he clarified. Auditors were told to accept the fact that people in operations are experts and they know more. Auditors often thrust their recommendations stating it as best practices but Best practices require evidence and are unique to the organization.

Larry had significantly different thoughts about risks and controls. You cannot flowchart risks- the real problems are non process related such as soft controls, ethical climate, management style etc His opinion on control is Setting organizational objectives is one of the most important internal control. No manager uses internal control to achieve business objective instead they use management methods and models. Controls are not things required to do the job. But control failures are more likely than unknown risks

Another path breaking advice Larry gave to auditors was Auditors should find fraud. Every audit, in the end is a compliance audit. There is no benchmark how audit time should be spend between financial, operational, compliance or fraud prevention audits. It is better left to the best judgment of the auditor on the scene he stated. Many questions on contentious issues and forthright statements were replied with ease by the speaker.

Sundaresan Rajeswar President of the IIA introducing the speaker told auditors to follow professional standards to drive quality and consistency in their workplace and to guide their judgments. Its people like Larry who shares wisdom and practical knowledge across the globe that raises standard in the practice of internal auditing. Girish Jain coordinated the event. Professors and scholars fromQatar University were present