Page 34 - IIA MAGAZINE_March 2017_English

Human Resources
BY ABDULLA HASSAN AL BARAEI
Is the Internal audit
is my Profession?
In 1999, a Colleague of mine and I met
with met with a strategic expert in a
friendly meeting. It was our first year
on the job as internal auditors after our
graduation from the higher technology
faculties (fresh graduates). During our
conversation, he surprised us that he has a
short test for me and my friend on internal
audit. He also told us that he has a goal in
mind behind such test and he will tell us
about it after taking the test and having the
results. Some of the questions in that test
were about the theories of internal audit
and working methods while others were
about the qualities and skills of the internal invested in such person will be fruitful. In
audit. We have already submitted the tests
and the result was that my friend obtained
high scores in the questions relating to the
theories and methods of working in the
field of internal audit. For me, I obtained
high scores in the questions relating to
the qualities and skills of internal audit.
Having analyzed the results, the expert
told us that the goal behind such test is to
determine which one of us is more suitable
for the internal audit profession than the
other on the long run. I still remember his
words that knowledge and science can be
acquired through studiousness and hard
work while the qualities and skills required
for a specialized profession will make you
a distinguished person in your career.
Although we could not deeply understand
his words at that time, I realized the
significance and importance of such test by
the lapse of time.
34 INTERNAL AUDITOR - MIDDLE EAST
EDITED BY HOSSAM SAMI
The successful
internal audit
department is, first
and foremost, in need
of efficient auditors
Based on my expertise in the internal audit
field, I realized that the successful internal impacts on the business which are hidden
audit department is, first and foremost, in
need of efficient auditors. Thus, I started
to give due care to the skills and qualities
possessed by the candidates to work with
us in order to make sure that I employ the
right person and that the time and money
the following lines, I will share with you
my opinion about the most important
skills and qualities that must be owned
by the internal auditor in order to be
distinguished among his/her colleagues.
1. The ability to understand the business
and activities: In my opinion, this skill is
the most important skill an internal auditor
must possess as the nature of his/her work
requires that he/she shall audit different
types of business and activities within a
very short period of time. In addition, the
lack of this skill would greatly limit the
ability of the auditor, and will adversely
affect the audit results.
2. The ability to analyze and reach
logical conclusions: The examination
works for auditors rely on the analysis and
drawing conclusions as the documents or
statements will give us information only,
which requires the existence of this skill to
pick up any signs that may lead to a risk or
an opportunity.
3. The skill of discussion and persuasion:
I’m fully convinced that (the auditee)
knows its business more than the auditor.
This means that the evidence and facts
mentioned in the audit report are not
sufficient in many cases to convince
the auditee of the importance of the
observations and risks related to it. Thus,
the auditor must be well-versed and
fully aware of the nature of the audited
activity so that he/she could discuss the
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EMAIL the author at abdulla.hassan@dtc.gov.ae
observations and convince the auditee of
their importance.
4. Endless pursuit to reach the
added value: Officials/Management always
estimate deep observations which show
that the auditor is not simply confined with
the broad lines of the observations, but he/
she went the extra mile to conduct an in-
depth analysis, extract data that is difficult
to be extracted, or reveal facts or fact
from such officials. In addition, to make
the officials/management more convinced
of the importance of the observation and
the return such official will obtain through
the implementation of the auditor’s
recommendation.
5. Passion for the profession: This quality
is my favorite because it enables the
auditor to overcome the most difficult
challenges of auditing tasks. Passion for
the profession inspires the auditor to look
forward to auditing new and more complex
topics. The audit starts by thinking about
the new challenge and how to address its
difficulties. However, once you proceed
with audit work, you will understand the
activity and identify the most important
processes and then analyze the risks...
etc., and gradually the mission clues will
be identified. This quality adds to the
auditor the possibility of providing the
added value to the officials/management
by submitting an audit report inclusive
of the most important risks and the most
important problems and opportunities that
the officials/management might not know
about, through conducting a professional
internal audit with high added value.
Finally, I’m sure that there are many other
qualities and skills, but from my point of
view these are the most important ones.
However, the most important question is
that can the candidate for the position of an
internal auditor acquire these qualities and
skills by practice while on the job or he/she
must own them before joining the internal
audit profession.
I believe that we all have these qualities
and skills but at different levels, but I also
believe that the person who has a good deal
of such skills is a perfect candidate for this
profession and he/she may be trained to
enhance theses qualities and skills.
Abdulla Hassan Al Baraei
CIA, CCSA, CGAP, Senior Manager
Internal Audit Office, Dubai Taxi Corporation
MARCH 2017