Dubai hosts largest meet of audit professionals in Mena region

Inayat-ur-Rahman

Dubai on Wednesday witnessed the opening of the largest conference of audit professionals in the Mena region, the 8th Chief Audit Executive Conference (CAE), with the participation of 300 Chief Audit Executives from seven countries.

The two-day conference, organized by the UAE Internal Auditors Association (UAE IAA) under the patronage of Eng. Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, was opened in Dubai under the theme “Technology Redefines Internal Audit.”

In his welcome speech, Abdulqader Obaid Ali, Chairman, (UAE IAA), said: With technology playing an important part in the needs of the business and reliance on it growing day by day, it is imperative auditors lay significant emphasis on understanding how it is defining Internal Audit.” He mentioned that eight years back during their first event less than 100 auditors participated at the conference.

He expressed his optimism and appreciation, adding that today was a memorable day for them because over 300 Chief Auditors have registered for the event. He also welcomed the guests who came all the way from Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan and Oman to attend the event. He mentioned that the main concept behind hosting the event was to bring gurus and experts from across the globe in order to share their expertise and fix the ongoing challenges which the auditors and companies are facing on daily basis.

He added, “2018 was one of the greatest years for them in which  they hosted one of the largest assemblies of the world in Dubai, crossing 3,500 people. “Our journey of success never stops here.”  “We have big dreams to flourish our organization. “We are planning to establish the world’s leading state-of the-art academy for Internal Auditors in Dubai. “Our aim is not to raise profit or revenue from the institute, but to impart knowledge, training and add values to our partner companies and clients.”

“We are align with the government smart and paperless initiative. By 2021 there will be no single paper in Dubai government offices. (UAE IAA) is also planning to go smart. You will not find a single paper in our upcoming events.”

He mentioned that they have successfully Arabized the Quality Assessment Manual in order to provide quality assessment services both in English in Arabic.   

Jenitha John, Senior Vice Chairman, The Institute of Internal Auditors Inc., in her presentation “Adroit Auditing in a Transforming World” noted that reskilling, rebooting and refreshing your audit practices will benefit the organization from the perspective of value creation and becoming a trusted adviser.  She highlighted auditing in a transforming world.  Taking lessons from corporate failures, understanding business paradigms, how organization are transforming their business modules and how auditors quickly respond.

She added, “How do we ensure that we have the right talent in right place and make sure that you have the right talent that you can deliver and add value to your organization.”

She mentioned that UAE is brilliant in terms of adopting and accepting the fact that technologies is the future and many organization are looking towards AI and robotics. She mentioned that benchmarking is very important with other economies as well how they are adopting an embracing technologies.  In internal auditing you must understand what your strength and weaknesses are. internal audit can’t lead in technology when an  organization is lagging in technology innovation.

Prof. Dr Pierre Brunswick, CEO, Neuromen Technologies during his presentation on “AI: Myths and Reality” mentioned that a lot of people are reluctant about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI),  but in reality they are using AI on their daily basis, such as mobile devices,  Careem services etc.  He noted that adopting AI is crucial for all companies.

He warned that in the next two to three years around 40 per cent of global companies would loose around 30 to 70 per cent of their competitiveness if they are not using and adopting AI.   In 2018, the US spent $3.7 trillion on AI and China spent around $7 trillion. By 2030 China would earn $7 trillion revenue from AI. He mentioned that the world is spending $12 trillion on AI. He noted that deep learning, cyber security, jobs creation and ethics are the myths in adopting AI. He noted that the UAE is marching ahead in adopting AI. The country having a minister of Artificial Intelligence is a great move. In terms of usage the UAE is leading in AI. The world would earn $20 billion by 2020 in revenues from adopting AI.