SAI Deputy Chairman leads delegation at 25th GCC Audit and Accounting Meeting

Muscat: Ahmed bin Salim Al-Rujaibi, Deputy Chairman of the State Audit Institution, headed the SAI delegation to the 25th Meeting of the Undersecretaries of the GCC Audit and Accounting Bureaus, which was launched from Doha, Qatar, via video conference on Tuesday, September 10. The Undersecretaries of the member SAIs and bureaus, the Assistant Secretary General for Legislative and Legal Affairs and a number of SAI specialists participated in the meeting.

Several topics were reviewed and discussed during the meeting, most notably the applied study on the results and recommendations of the winning research in the GCC Competition for the Research and Studies in the Field of Auditing, in a way that enhances the role of applied research and the implementation of the recommendations contained therein in improving the institutional performance. Additionally, the meeting discussed the mechanisms for benefiting from the issued manuals and views on their development in order to achieve efficiency in implementing audit tasks, as well as reviewing a number of draft professional manuals prepared by a sub-group of specialists in the member SAIs, namely the updated Financial Audit Manual (General Manual) and the Manual of Audit of Disaster and Crisis Management.

The meeting also included a review of a plan to enhance cooperation and partnership with the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), in light of SAI’s undertaking to implement this initiative within the GCC Training Strategic Plan, as proposed projects were discussed to benefit from the initiative’s expertise, being the development arm of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). Furthermore, the status of signing the memorandum of understanding with King Fahd National Library in the areas of information resources, publication, and expertise exchange was covered in the meeting.

The meeting concluded by reviewing the proposed topic for the third Gulf Symposium in line with professional developments in the field of audit, in addition to the Secretariat General’s report on the specialised training programs implemented in 2024 for member SAIs’ employees. The preparation of the draft agenda for the 21st meeting of Their Excellencies the heads of the GCC Audit and Accounting Bureaus, to be held in October, was also discussed.