Special event to mark Internal Audit Awareness month

Internal auditors host a special event to mark "Internal Audit Awareness month.'

May is celebrated as International Internal Audit Awareness Month to spread the word about the value internal auditing brings to organizations. Internal auditing is a vital component of organizational success achieved through independence and objectivity, nurture relationships with stakeholder groups, and complying with the Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing. The IIA Qatar chapter participates in the 'Building Awareness Champion' recognition by professional activities and public relations.

A webinar, Passion to Perform, How to make an impact in your organization, was held with an attendance of 100 auditors.  Michael J. Fucilli, the trainer, has 40 years of internal auditing experience in the private and public sectors. He was Auditor-General at Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the largest Public Sector Transit Authority in North America. Fucilli is the recipient of the American Hall of Distinguished Audit Practitioners 2021.

Fucilli started his talk with a question about whether the internal audit profession is agile enough. The listed criterion focus on business value, accelerated audit cycles for efficient delivery,  continuous communication, increased collaboration, reduced documentation, timely insights by brief reporting, and increased audit quality with reduced cost.

The goals of agile auditing are accelerated product delivery, improved visibility, increased team productivity, and better management of changing priorities. Micheal said, "As an auditor, everything you say does send a message, and every audit has an impact. What Do auditors Know About company Business is critical for their contribution." 

"Business agility is how well a company can respond to changing conditions. Agility is a factor of business sense, right response, and ability to adapt to the change," Micheal stated. The enablers of business agility are leadership and management, organization culture, structure, people and engagement, governance, and ways of 

Fucilli's advice to internal auditors was to assist companies to gain a sustainable competitive advantage by providing strategies to increase efficiency from the ground floor up, identifying increased responsiveness and predictive intelligence, and focusing on differentiation through innovation.

Risk is assumed as something that will never happen with mitigation measures. However, Covid 19 proved otherwise, and everyone is up against it fighting for survival. Auditors should move away from conventional compliance, process improvement, and cost-saving audits to more value-added consulting engagements.

"Help your company to accomplish its mission. Audit the strategy, and if we don't, it is a direct threat to internal audit departments," Micheal reiterated.

"Micheal recommended using the COSO framework when planning audits. He listed 17 principles of the framework and emphasized the need to audit these components. Understand where is risk and think about the unimaginable to decipher it. The entire session and Q&A brought out very candid assertions and forthright comments as a wake-up call to auditors," said Sundaresan Rajeswar, a Board member who coordinated the training for the chapter.

Fahad al-Marri, Senior Vice President, and Christain Adonis, Past President of the IIA Qatar, addressed the gathering. Girish Jain introduced the speaker, and Rajeswar handled the Q&A session Muralikrishan and Murtaza hosted the meeting.