UAE-IAA Promotes Excellence in Internal Audit Practices in Government and Private Sectors

Nominations open for 3rd cycle of UAE-IAA’s ‘Best Practice in Internal Audit Award’ for all government and private sector entities

Winners to be announced at the 7th Chief Audit Executive Conference in November this year

Award encourages sharing best practices among organisations facilitating a better governed business community and generating awareness of internal auditing among smaller business entities

Dubai, June 11, 2017: Committed to ensuring excellence in internal auditing practices across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UAE Internal Auditors Association (UAE-IAA) has announced the 3rd cycle of its ‘Best Practice in Internal Audit Award’. The award is open to all government and private sector entities, including semi-government and government owned establishments.  

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE’s Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, issued a law on Dubai Government Financial Regulation last year, which requires all government entities to set up an internal audit unit as a part of efforts toward promoting greater fiscal transparency. 

In line with the directives of the leadership, the UAE-IAA, which has more than 1,700 members, has been ceaselessly working toward facilitating implementation of best practices in internal auditing across the UAE, toward which it has taken several initiatives including awareness campaigns on internal auditing, workshops by renowned international experts, organising and participating in local, regional as well as international conferences and the Best Practice in Internal Audit Award.

Abdulqader Obaid Ali, President of the UAE IAA, said: “As the UAE economy grows from strength to strength, our leadership has been focussed on good governance practices, and establishing internal audit departments is among the major initiatives. The UAE-IAA, by facilitating implementation of best practices in internal auditing, will further help organisations transform their overall performance, thereby increasing their contribution to the economy. As an apex body of internal auditors in the nation, we are committed to providing opportunities to the organisations to learn from the best and this award is among our key initiatives in this direction. The success of this award is reflected from the high interest we have received from internal auditing companies from across the UAE. This year, we are expecting the number of participants to double.” 

The Award acknowledges and appreciates internal audit departments that go an extra mile to implement practices and standards that ensure effective and efficient performances when compared to other organisations, as well as aims at creating a culture of sharing best practices among internal auditing departments and give an opportunity to others to learn from those who have successfully implemented best practices. 

An adjudication panel will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the applicants in the areas of extent of innovation, successful structured implementation, benefits to the organisation and benefits to internal auditing departments. 

In the area of innovation, the panel will evaluate extent of innovation, value addition through innovation to the business, and the role of innovation in empowering employees. The successful structured implementation will analyse documentation of processes, communication and implementation across all levels as well as implementation of The International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF) and compliance. Participants will also need to demonstrate the benefits to the internal audit department and to the organisation by implementing best practices in terms of effective use of IA resources, reduced audit cycle time, tangible cost savings, employee satisfaction, communication and adaptability to changing organisational needs and audit related benchmarking. 

Organisations keen on participating need to submit an intention to participate form and can view further details here. 

The winners will be announced during the 7th Chief Audit Executive Conference to be held in November later this year.