DUBAI - Dubai is set to host the largest conference of internal audit professionals in the region with an expected attendance of more than 1,500 delegates from around the world.
The 20th Annual Regional Audit Conference hosted by the UAE Internal Auditors Association, UAE IAA, will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 12th to 14th April under the theme "Future Technology Shaping Internal Audit." According to a press relaese issued by the UAE IAA on Wednesday, the conference will debate a wide range of professional topics, including challenges emerging from Artificial Intelligence, AI, the Digital Transformation and the impact on internal audit, data privacy, digitization, cyber security and robotics.
Speaking on the occasion, UAE IAA Chairman Abdulqader Obaid Ali said, "The future belongs to organisations that can forecast and foresee future trends and challenges. This conference will prove to be an ideal platform that will discuss future trends in accounting and audit practice and find solutions to the emerging challenges in the New Economy. This year’s conference is a sequel to last year’s meet which was a stupendous success that highlighted IAA’s role as a facilitator to make the UAE a model to the world. Internal audit professionals will have the opportunity to share and discuss innovative ideas and concepts with thought leaders, speakers, and experts. It will be setting new trends and milestones." One of the highlights of the conference is the ‘presence’ of humanoid robot Sophia as a symbol of the future of artificial intelligence. Sophia will ‘discuss’ "AI in the Internal Audit Profession." "The UAE is the first country to have ministry of artificial intelligence. The theme 'Future Technology Shaping Internal Audit' is chosen to enlighten the internal audit community on the increased adaptation of technology in the Artificial Intelligence era," he said.
The conference assumes more significance as it will be attended by Richard Chambers, President and CEO of the Institute of Internal Auditors, IIA Global, who will deliver the keynote address titled ‘Auditing at the Speed of Risk’. IAA Global’s former Chairman Anton van Wyk will also have a presentation entitled "A Decade of Heightened Scrutiny." Also, the event will witness many sought after sessions that will focus on topics related to the conference theme.
UAE IAA, a non-profit organisation, was set up in 1995 along the lines of its parent body, the IIA Global which has 200,000 members from more than 190 countries and organisations. The UAE accounts for about 45% of the total number of internal auditors working in the region, estimated at about 7,000 auditors, of which 22% are Emiratis.
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