Ignore advice at your own peril, auditors warn firms
Pauline Dikuelo | Wednesday November 8, 2017 14:19
Speaking at a breakfast seminar of the 7th Annual Institute of Internal Auditors conference, which is held under the theme, ‘Creating value for stakeholders’, Mushango said their profession is faced with a challenge where most of their recommendations are not taken into consideration.
“If our recommendations are not taken seriously, it can result in the downfall of the company especially when critical recommendations that can add value are not considered. Recommendations are made to be discussed and agreed on with the relevant stakeholders and what happens next is beyond us,” she said.
According to Mushango, as auditors they only have the authority to suggest recommendations and explain them but do not have powers to ensure that they are taken into consideration.
She said through the conference, they want to ensure that they create value by interacting with stakeholders as well as identifying the gaps within the profession and find solutions to them.
Commenting on the state of auditing in Botswana, Mushango said the industry has grown over the years but added that there was room for further improvement.
Further she encouraged all internal auditors to register with the institute so that they can help improve controls locally before considering going beyond borders. Currently the Institute has just over 200 members.
The three-day conference, which starts today features international speakers from South Africa, Uganda and the United States of America-based Larry Baker, member of the executive leadership team, Institute of Internal Auditors Globally.
“The global office is our mother body so it sets rules at high level for every country to regulate all auditors across the globe, to guide all auditors and disseminate international auditing standards according to all the countries so that all the auditors do the same thing,” she said.