Completion of 11 forensic audit reports ... and two further forensic audit missions started
The National Audit Office (NAO) continues to carry out and expand its forensic audit work as part of its audit mandate and in keeping with requirements. The NAO aims to enhance its audit methods to protect public funds by assisting audited entities to strengthen their systems and address weaknesses to proactively avoid violations and abuses.
According to the latest statistics, the NAO has so far completed 11 forensic reports, many of which were for entities covered by its audit mandate and is currently carrying out two further forensic audit missions. The reports were prepared in addition to the regular tasks and reports carried out by the NAO.
His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Auditor General of the NAO, confirmed that the NAO would continue to implement and expand its forensic audit tasks and enhance capacity by periodically reviewing forensic audit policies and evidencing for forensic audit reports, updating and developing technical tools, and providing additional training for employees to enable them to perform their tasks to a high professional standard.
Avoiding Violations
He indicated that Forensic Auditing was part of its audit mandate and aimed to provide recommendations to the entities subject to the NAO’s audit to address weaknesses and strengthen regulations to avoid future violations and abuses.
His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed stated that expanding its forensic audit work was based on a periodic plan that included follow-up work on previous reports and communications received through approved channels (website, official email, phone, messages) which provided a source for audit topics.
He explained that Forensic Auditing was a new and effective audit tool, which had proven its usefulness in practice. He elaborated that it effectively helped develop more specialized and technical auditing methods and acted as a “pre-warning” before a violation could occur thus proving to be a very useful tool to protect public funds and verify their proper management.
“The forensic audit reports that we have completed during the past two years have been well and positively received by those concerned at the highest levels," he said.
He added that Forensic Auditing aimed to detect cases of corruption and financial and administrative fraud. It included submitting reports to the judicial authorities, state agencies and competent authorities with recommendations on how to avoid violations.
His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed stated that during the past two years the NAO had developed and implemented plans and programs to enable the NAO to perform that type of audit. Those programs and plans consisted primarily in training its employees in cooperation with one of the world's leading institutions in this field and encouraging them to obtain relevant professional qualifications. In addition, an internal team was formed to carry out forensic auditing in early 2021.
His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed indicated that the NAO’s new strategic plan (July 2021 - June 2025) focused on Forensic Auditing as part of modernizing and developing its audit methods to perform its work according to its law, covering further audit areas according to requirements, and keeping pace with developments in the audit profession.
Global Training Program for Employees
The head of the NAO’s forensic audit team, Dr. Isa Alnoaimi, Assistant Auditor General - Administrative Audit, said that a training program consisting of a series of expert forensic audit courses had been launched under the title "Capacity Building and Enhancing Skills and Expertise in the Field of Forensic Auditing" in cooperation with Kroll, an international company specializing in this field.
He stressed that so far 25 employees from the NAO and other relevant authorities had benefited from the program's first phase which provided training in preparing professional forensic audit reports. He added that, according to the training program, the forensic audit team would receive further specialized training on an annual basis.
Dr. Alnoaimi explained that the program aimed to provide employees with the skills to prepare specialized reports, strengthen cooperation and partnership with the entities subject to the NAO’s audit, provide added value to stakeholders, and achieve the NAO’s strategic objectives leading to improved services for Bahrain’s citizens.
According to last year's plan, the NAO approved 6 Forensic Auditing training courses held over a period of 5 months covering the following topics: Overview of Forensic Auditing procedures, Forensic Auditing and Financial Crimes, Advanced Analysis of Big Data, Electronic Discovery Techniques (E- Discovery), Investigative Interview Techniques, Documenting Worksheets, Forensic Reporting and Evidencing.
The satisfaction rating given by participants for the courses was 91%.
Participants
Dr. Alnoaimi elaborated that the training program in cooperation with Kroll included assistance in providing specialized training for NAO employees, identifying technical tools, providing support in preparing relevant policies and manuals, as well as providing subsequent support during the implementation phase.
Supporting Employees to obtain Professional Qualifications
Dr. Alnoaimi stressed that the NAO advised and encouraged its technical staff to obtain forensic audit qualifications approved by recognized international institutes and organisations. He continued that, in addition, the NAO would implement capacity building initiatives, enhance coordination, strengthen cooperation and exchange experiences with supreme audit organisations that practice this type of audit. Furthermore, the NAO would cooperate with specialized organizations and institutions to provide training and advanced technical support when needed.
Some members of the forensic audit team obtained professional qualifications in this field such as CFF (Certified in Financial Forensics), which is granted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and deals with various topics related to Forensic Auditing such as planning and managing tasks, preparing forensic audit reports, methods of collecting and maintaining evidence and presenting it to the competent authorities, analysing data and electronic documents, examining methods and corruption cases and determining corrective measures.
In addition, the CFE (Certified Fraud Examiners) qualification provides an advanced understanding of the various fraud methods and procedures for examining and investigating various fraud incidents, identifying the perpetrators, investigating the motives for those fraud incidents, and determining ways to avoid them in the future.
On top of that, the CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist) certification provides a qualification in understanding the practices of financial criminals to conceal and disguise the obtained funds, the methods used to re-list and use those funds in the financial systems, and the methods of exploiting legal persons and civil society institutions as a means for money laundering and terrorist financing.
