Abdulqader Obaid Ali: We strengthened the skills of our associates to meet the professional challenges and improve the success of organisations
UAE-IAA organised 69 training courses and conferences in 2019
Knowledge upgrades help organisations gain further success
Data theft, frauds and cyber-attacks worries organisations
Dubai, UAE: As the competencies and professional standards of employees in organisations require continuous skills update, with the Internal Auditors (IA) acting as the hidden eyes, the UAE Internal Auditors Association (UAE-IAA), with over 1,945 active members on its rolls, has been working its ways to elevate the standards of profession through conferences, seminars and training programmes.
In 2019, the largest body of IA in the MENA region, conducted over 60 training courses, conferences and seminars as part of its endeavours to hone the professional skills and knowledge of its members to enable them play more crucial roles in organisations and ensure their success. Abdulqader Obaid Ali, Chairman of the Board, UAE IAA, says as many as 71 activities, including 69 training courses and conferences, were conducted in addition to holding a HASAAD training batch last year. HASAAD program aims at strengthening the professional competencies of the UAE nationals in IA domain. Currently, the UAE nationals accounts for 22% of IA professionals.
Emerging technologies have been impacting the IA domain, requiring the updating of knowledge and training. The IA has been grappling with digitisation, business sustainability, governance and risks, fraud and corruption, information security and disruptive technology. These challenges were under the spotlight at several platforms the IA association had organised. The 19th Annual Regional Audit (ARA) and 8th Chief Audit Executive (CAE) Conferences were the cynosure of all eyes. The ARA conference was the largest gathering of the IA with the attendance of more than 550 experts and specialists. It debated the challenges emerging from Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Privacy, Digitization, Cyber Security and Robotics. The CAE facilitated decision-makers to broaden their professional knowledge and work their ways to face the emerging challenges.
The IA’s role has been changing due to business complexity and the introduction of new technologies. Digitalization poses immense challenges and opportunities for every business. The organisations globally face challenges arising out of frauds, embezzlements and misappropriation. Experts warned about the top three risks facing the industry: cyber security, data collection and dissemination, with cyber risk posing the greatest threat on integrated business processes.
Cybercrime is predicted to cost US$8 trillion to businesses globally over next five years. The threat landscape is becoming increasingly complex and hyper connected as more and more data and services becomes reachable through the internet. Data theft and frauds were leading the list of worries in organisations across the world, with cyber-attacks ranked third on the list in 2018 and 2019.
At the RAC Conference, experts warned that by 2025, the IA workforce will be even-split between employees, machines and technology staff and that their capabilities will be enhanced with bots and machine learning to handle the accelerating volume, speed and complexity of data. As Dubai government is becoming smart and paperless with plans by 2021 to have no single paper in Dubai government offices, the UAE-IAA is also planning to go smarter and will continue not using a single paper in its events. The UAE is marching ahead in adopting AI and leads in terms of its usage. The world would earn US$20 billion by 2020 in revenues from adopting AI. The global spending on smart technologies is set to hit US$23 trillion by 2023, with the MENA region spending around 5% of it. Out of this 5%, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are spending around 60% to 70% on these technologies.
The UAE-IAA had, last year, rebranded its best practices award (LPIA) as the coveted recognition initiative entered its fourth cycle. Through this award, it aims to encourage IA departments to improve and enhance their activities by learning from those who have been successful. The UAE IAA has entered into tie-ups with professional bodies, including a two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UK-based Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) for the knowledge-enhancement of their members and also of the accountancy and tax professionals.
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