Al Salmi:
HE Sultan Salim Al Habsi, Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Central Bank of Oman presided over the inauguration ceremony of Taheel training program which aims at qualifying fresh Omani graduates of accounting and finance to work as internal auditors. Taheel, an initiative of the Capital Market Authority, comes to train the graduates who are willing to act as internal auditors to supply the market with qualified cadres after theoretical and practical training and equipping them with the necessary skills for internal auditors.
HE Abdullah Salim Al Salmi, Executive President of CMA said that CMA is keen to adopt a regulatory policy based on self -regulation tools to upgrade and promote the standards of regulation in the institutions regulated by CMA. He said there is need for efficient internal audit that require qualified and enabled human cadres for being the pillar for implementation of the principles of corporate governance and first defense line to curb the risks.
HE the Executive President of the CMA explained that audit in general and internal audit in particular are very important and needed by all institutions, hence CMA’s moved to launch this initiative to promote awareness of internal audit as an efficient tool for the protection of the institutions and attractive profession for the Omani youth to encourage them to gain the required skills through work with professionals with expertise to bridge the gap between academic education in the academic institutions and the practice they will acquaint from such programs. He expressed hope that the youth would join internal audit departments in the companies after completing the 12 month training program.
Al Salmi confirmed that CMA has confidence that the role of internal auditor will be a supporting tool for the company through performing the roles and responsibilities defined in the rules. He added that “our role is to orientate and support the youth, advice them and provide them equal opportunities in training that enable them to efficiently contribute to the objective related to confidence in financial reports and compliance with the laws and regulations as well as efficient operations as it represents an independent and objective function created in the institution to check and evaluate the various activities for the purpose of assisting the officers of the concern to perform their responsibilities with high efficiency and effectiveness through analysis, assessment, recommendation, advice and information related to the audit of the activities”. He added CMA is looking forward to continue this program and to launch similar programs in other specializations and professions.
Mohammed Al Zadjali, Auditor at the Inspection and Examination Department of CMA talked about the idea of the program in a presentation and explained that the candidates would be selected in accordance with clear standards created for this purpose from the list of registered candidates through the CMA portal and their training in internal audit would be with international audit firms operating in the Sultanate beside a number of public joint stock companies after shortlisting the candidates.
The inaugural ceremony contained discussion session on the importance of internal auditor, challenges and the requirements for upgrading the profession of internal audit emphasizing the importance of coping with the new technologies and follow up internal audit standards and their updates.