Members of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) held a walk in some principal streets of Accra to dispel misconceptions surrounding the profession.
The exercise also formed part of activities to climax IIA Ghana’s International Internal Audit Awareness Month celebrations.
Placards displayed during the walk on Friday had inscriptions like “Internal Auditors empower informed decision-making”, “We never compromise on quality”, “We help shape the future beyond the numbers”, “Internal auditors minimise waste and maximise value”, “We strengthen systems and safeguard assets” and “We are not fault finders, we are your partners and advisors.”
In an interview with journalists after the walk, president of IIA Ghana, Mr Joseph Dakora Zumasigee, stated that the IIA worldwide acknowledged the month of May as a period to explain to stakeholders the value they could get from internal audit, challenging internal auditors to take up their roles and deliver the value that is expected of them.
“So it is a way for us to reflect on our activities, dispel some of the misconceptions surrounding this profession and also to remind ourselves of the distance that is still left for us to cover as internal auditors,” he added.
He urged auditors to help their organisations to increase value at all times, adding that protecting the value created by auditors was also very important.
Mr Zumasigee also called for the acquisition of modern skills by auditors in order for them to function more effectively within the changing environment.
“In this era of digitalisation, you cannot continue to do your work as though you were doing it 20 years ago, so you must gain other skills in order to remain relevant,” he stressed.
On his part, Deputy Chief Executive, Finance of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr Ebenezer Tagoe, indicated that ethics and professional standards were becoming increasingly important to stakeholders in the auditing profession.
According to him, auditors must demonstrate that they were acting in the best interests of their clients by upholding the highest standards of professional conduct.
This, he said, would require a focus on ethical decision-making and a commitment to ongoing professional development and training.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU