Al Salmi:

•  We will  support the graduates to bridge the gap between academic education and professional practice in internal audit
• We care about internal audit for being efficient tool for protection

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.