Programs to ensure continuity and update of available technical tools.
The National Audit Office (NAO) has strengthened the skills and capabilities of its employees in forensic auditing, one of the modern effective audit tools, with the aim to provide recommendations to the entities covered by the NAO’s audit mandate to address possible gaps and strengthen their systems with the purpose to avoid future abuses and violations.
Approximately 25 employees from the NAO and other relevant entities recently completed the program on "capacity building and enhancing skills and expertise in the field of forensic auditing."
The Forensic Audit training program was launched by the NAO in cooperation with global company Kroll and included a series of specialized courses to enable employees to use the skills acquired in preparing 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 had approved 6 forensic auditing courses held over a period of 5 months which concluded last November covering the following topics: Overview on Forensic Auditing, Forensic Accounting/Auditing and Financial Crimes, Advanced Analysis of Big Data; Forensic Email Review Techniques, Investigative Interview Techniques, Work Paper Design and Maintenance, Forensic Reporting and Evidencing.
The satisfaction rate given for the courses by the participants was around 91%.
The cooperation program with global firm Kroll included assistance in providing specialized training for several NAO employees and identifying technical tools, providing support in preparing relevant policies and manuals as well as subsequent support at the start of the implementation phase.
The Auditor General of the NAO, His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, said that the NAO was interested in keeping its employees up to date about the latest global developments in the audit field to ensure that tasks were carried out in a highly professional manner to achieve the desired goals.
During a meeting with the forensic audit team of the NAO, he indicated that the NAO was keen to develop the capabilities of its staff to carry out forensic audit tasks according to international standards and use the skills acquired in preparing reports with professionality.
His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed stressed that the NAO was looking forward to expanding forensic audit tasks as part of its audit mandate to provide recommendations to the entities subject to its audit to address weaknesses and strengthen regulations for the sake of avoiding future violations and abuses.
He explained that that strategy required continuous capacity enhancement which included reviewing the investigative audit policy and manual on a periodic basis, updating the technical tools in use to keep pace with technical development as well as obtaining additional specialized training for the forensic audit team on an annual basis.
Sheikh Ahmed added, "The NAO will continue to encourage its technical staff to obtain forensic audit qualifications approved by reputable international institutes and organisations. In addition, the NAO will implement capacity-building initiatives and enhance coordination, cooperation, and exchange of experience with advanced entities that practice this type of auditing. Furthermore, the NAO will 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 investigative reports, methods of collecting and retaining evidence and presenting it to the competent authorities, analyzing data and electronic documents, monitoring methods, corruption cases and setting corrective measures.
In addition, the CFE (Certified Fraud Examiners) qualification provides the employee with an advanced understanding of the various fraud methods, procedures for monitoring and investigating various fraud incidents, identifying their perpetrators, investigating the motives of their occurrence, and determining ways to avoid them in the future.
On top of that, the CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist) certification qualifies the employee to understand 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.
With regard to expanding forensic audit missions, His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed stressed that a periodic plan would be developed which would include follow-up work on previous reports and based on communications received through the approved channels (phone, e-mail, messages) as one of the sources for specific forensic audit tasks. The missions would contribute to addressing weaknesses and strengthen regulations when violations or crimes are discovered by the entities covered by the NAO’s audit.
