Sheikh Ahmed: Corona has made Digital Transformation a Top Priority.
His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Auditor General at the National Audit Office (NAO), chaired the eighteenth meeting of the Heads of the Audit and Accounting Institutions in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which was held today, Tuesday, via video conference.
His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed welcomed the Heads of the GCC Audit and Accounting institutions and all participants to the meeting and stressed the importance of strengthening joint cooperation within the GCC through the exchange of knowledge, expertise and experience to support the development, training and innovation initiatives in the audit field for the benefit of GCC citizens.
He praised the efforts of the GCC General Secretariat and the tasks it performs. In addition, he thanked His Excellency Secretary-General Dr. Nayef bin Falah Al-Hajraf for his significant role in joint Gulf activities.
His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed congratulated Saudi Arabia’s General Court of Audit (GCA), represented by the head of the Court, His Excellency Dr. Hussam bin Abdulmohsen Al-Angari, on the occasion of the GCA’s election to the governing board of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for the sessions 2021-2024, and wished the GCA and His Excellency Dr. Hussam continued success.
His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed expressed his sincere condolences and deepest sympathy to the Sultanate of Oman and the families of the victims of Cyclone Shaheen.
He touched on the challenges imposed by the Corona pandemic (Covid-19) on audit work in general and how the pandemic made digital transformation and the effective use of technology a top priority, in addition to creating new types and methods of audit which enriched the experience and expertise of auditors.
The meeting approved the Gulf training plan for the year 2021-2022, which comprises 3 training programs: auditing public debt and the professional standards framework of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and related developments, prepared by the NAO Bahrain, and auditing government procurement, prepared by the State Audit Institution of Oman.
Heads of the GCC Audit and Accounting Institutions were also briefed on the joint general guide for audit work and the schedule for reviewing joint audit guides previously issued.
The meeting approved the recommendations and proposals of the Training and Development Committee, which included the preparation of a 3-year strategic training plan covering projects which had not been achieved in the previous plan and new projects to meet the objectives for the years 2022-2024. In addition, it was agreed to resume the Gulf symposium held every two years. The title of the next session will be "Challenges Facing the SAIs After the Corona Pandemic".
The meeting was attended by Dr. Isa Alnoaimi, Assistant Auditor General Administrative Audit, and Mr. Mohamed Hulaiwah, Director Public Relations and International Cooperation at the NAO.
