Monday 17 / June / 2024
Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman today hosted the 20th meeting of heads of GCC financial audit and accounting institutions.
The meeting was held on the premises of the GCC Supreme Council’s Advisory Board in Muscat.
It was chaired by Sheikh Ghosn Hilal Al Alawi, Chairman of the State Audit Institution (SAI) and attended by the GCC Assistant Secretary-General for Legislative and Legal Affairs.
The meeting discussed ways of enhancing knowledge and research aspects of auditing in member states by organising the 6th GCC Audit and Accountancy Competition.
The officials exchanged views about a proposal to sign a memorandum of understanding with King Fahd Library to enrich sources of knowledge for employees of member states’ audit offices.
They also elaborated on an initiative undertaken by the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) — known as the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), which seeks to develop the capabilities of audit staff in the organisation’s member states.
The meeting also discussed the GCC states’ training plan (2024-2025), which covered the operational plan and strategic aspects of training. Besides honing the skills of employees in financial audit institutions, the plan deals with exchanging expertise and upgrading cooperation between professionals and researchers.
The conferees looked into final versions of joint audit manuals. These included manuals on performance auditing, audit report drafting, information technology, privatisation and governance public projects' auditing.
Al Alawi expressed his sincere appreciation to the GCC General Secretariat for its vital role in the preparation, organisation and follow-up of all activities, which reflected positively on the efficiency and effectiveness of cooperation activities in various fields related to the work of the committee.
He stressed the significance of joint Gulf action in enhancing the institutional performance of the member institutions and bureaus by sharing institutional expertise, building professional competencies and preparing unified work manuals, which come through mutual visits, seminars and collaborative training activities, as well as research competitions and other activities.
Al Alawi concluded his speech by emphasising the importance of continuing the active contribution and optimal use of regional and international organisations concerned with the fields of financial audit and accounting, and the active participation in the activities of these organisations through membership in the councils and committees emanating from them, as well as hosting their various meetings and initiatives, which reflect the sound professional orientation and the leading institutional role of our member SAIs, in addition to cooperation with peer SAIs and transfer of experiences and expertise.
Consultant Sultan bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, Assistant Secretary-General for Legislative and Legal Affairs delivered the speech of the GCC Secretariat General, in which he expressed sincere thanks and great appreciation to the Sultanate of Oman for hosting the meeting and praised the efforts of the State Audit Institution in managing activities related to the work of the committee.
He added that the GCC Audit Bureaus and Institutions are constantly keen to reflect joint work through exchanging experiences and building functional capabilities and competencies of their members through a variety of specialised professional activities, which has contributed to the effectiveness of their role in the national work system. He also stressed the keenness of the GCC Secretariat General on the effective management of organisational and technical activities.
During the meeting, a number of main topics were reviewed and discussed, the most significant of which were enhancing the knowledge and research aspect through the Sixth Competition of the Cooperation Council for Research and Studies in the field of audit and accounting, and discussing the proposal to update the regulation organising the competition that aims to highlight the best professional practices in auditing, as well as enhancing the audit culture and spreading it among employees, in addition to enhancing communication and cooperation between Institutions and bureaus and directing research efforts to keep pace with all updates of audit and accounting work.
