Registration for the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Conference to be held in the United States of America from July 14 to 17, 2013 opens in September 2012, the 2012 ÔÇô 2013 Global Institute of Internal Auditors Chairman, Phillip Tarling, has said.
Tarling said the four-day Conference celebrates “One World, One Profession, (and) One Destination,” at the Marriott Orlando World Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
Speaking to participants of the IIA Botswana held in Gaborone last week on Advancing Good Governance through Professional Internal Auditing, Tarling said: “You are invited to join us for the largest and most significant gathering of internal auditors in the world. The Conference will also allow delegates to appreciate the transformations of ‘The New Corporate World Order’ in the late 20th century from the ‘Old World Order’. For instance, in the Old World Order, the Internal Audit function was viewed more as a compliance toll, not risk centric, holding infrequent contact with Audit Committees, reported primarily to management, extensively focusing on financial controls and searching for the right value proposition.
“As a result of the Interceding Dynamic Decade of Change, international corporate scandals such as Enron, Sarbanese-Oxley, WorldCom, 2007 Global Financial Crisis, UK Bribery Act, Parmalat, Japanese J-SOX and Satyam, have had a bearing on the Internal Audit profession.”
The US-based Global IIA Chairman, who was on the last leg of a 10 African-nation tour of duty, including Botswana, said the Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, whose mission is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world had observed: “The Global Financial Crisis revealed several shortcomings in corporate governance. When most needed, existing standards failed to provide the checks and balances that companies need to cultivate sound practices. (Furthermore), the years following the enactment of Sarbanese-Oxley Act brought landmark corporate governance changes. As we look ahead to a new decade, public companies are again facing a transformation in the corporate governance landscape.”
For the transformation of the Corporate Governance Landscape, Tarling also emphasized the vital importance of communication to the Internal Audit (IA) profession, stressing the need to look beyond just messages’ content.
“Since boards and IAs have interlocking goals, a strong working relationship between the two is essential for the IA activity to fulfill its responsibilities to not only the board, but also to senior management, shareholders and other stakeholders, as appropriate,” he said.
According to the International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF) and IIA Research Foundation, Internal Auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting active to an organization’s operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes. Likewise, the Botswana chapter, IIA Botswana, seeks to promote and develop professional practice of internal auditing by subscription of members to IPPF. IIA Botswana also assists members receive appropriate professional internal audit training such as the globally accepted Certified Internal Audit enabling them to demonstrate professional competence.
The Global IIA, of which Tarling is chairman, has 175 000 members in 65 countries. In his current role, he is responsible for overseeing and leading all global strategic initiatives as a way of advancing the IIA profession worldwide.
Tarling has more than 25 years of internal audit, financial, and budgetary experience in the commercial and public sectors, including two decades as head of internal audit. Apart from his native UK, he has worked and provided training for IIA Institutes in Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kenya, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, South Africa and Turkey.
