In the Spotlight
IIA-South Africa Advocates for the Profession
IIA-South Africa strongly believes in advocating for the profession. The institute is teaming up with the South African Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners to host the 7th Fraud Conference later this month, and President Veronica du Preez and her team also are preparing for IIA-South Africa's Annual National Conference in August. "The national conference serves as the primary networking and informative event of the year for Southern Africa," du Preez explains.
Du Preez was recently invited to address the African Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI) convention in Botswana that was attended by all AFROSAI signatories (i.e., auditors general from every African, English-speaking country), as well as delegates from the Swedish National Audit Office, the INTOSAI Development Initiative, and the Court of The Hague. She spoke about cooperation with The IIA regarding the development of internal auditing throughout Africa and the role of internal auditing in promoting governance. IIA-South Africa has also worked with several African countries and other institutes such as IIA-Dubai on various initiatives, including strategic planning.
IIA-South African members give presentations around the country on a wide range of topics, including risk management and the responsibilities of the internal audit activity. "We led a presentation to all senior executives in Parliament about the role of internal auditing in government," du Preez says. "It was so well-received that they indicated their intention to significantly increase internal audit staff in the department."
Other recent advocacy highlights include hosting a Chinese delegation, speaking at The IIA-Stockholm conference, attending the 50th anniversary celebrations of IIA-Japan, and working with the government of Lesotho, Africa, to establish internal audit training programs in their country. IIA-South Africa is also preparing for the 2009 IIA International Conference, which will be held in Johannesburg. "We've been spreading the internal audit message to Johannesburg, Gauteng, and South African tourism organizations, as well as planning tour destinations for attendees," says Du Preez. "Advocacy is ingrained in everything we do, and we're proud to help spread the message."