The Society for West African Internal Audit Practitioners (SWAIAP), a professional body that organises and brings together the internal auditors across West African countries would be having their first international conference this October. Themed “Internal Auditor The Unappreciated Catalyst.” The event has been lauded as a welcomed development in the corporate setup of the country. According to the organisers, the conference is meant to educate, sensitise and inform the public on the critical roles of internal auditors as a profession and also distinguishing it from the role of accountants.
Speaking on the importance of the conference, Patrick O. Nzechukwu, first Executive President of Society for West African Internal Audit Practitioners (SWAIAP) and author, A to Z of Internal Audit Practice, said “we want to use this first conference which is going online due to Covid 19 and social distancing laws in the country to let the public know that internal auditors are critical to the smooth running of every establishment from private to public sectors. A lot of people tend to misplace or mistake internal auditors for accountants, as well external auditors. They might not be wrong; we are going to use this platform to enumerate and explain the differences”
“though internal audit isn’t a course that is offered in the tertiary institutions of the country at moment, nor offered by any Nigerian professional body, notwithstanding, that it has been a professional body since 1978, SWAIAP as a corporate organization are working hard to train internal auditors in the country and change orientation people have for internal auditing both in private and public sectors., including our institutions of learning. We believe that this conference will expose and explain why many managerial people should expose themselves to the intricacies and training of what it takes to be an internal auditor”, Patrick added.
Hosting Dr. Andreas Koutoupis an associate Professor of Financial Accountting from Mediterranean Destiny Limited, Greece, as the lead speaker, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, the Commissioner For Finance, Lagos State and certified internal control auditor as a keynote speaker while Tola Vong from Cambodia and Margret Ogunkoya of Lagos State University and host of others would be speaking at the event.
Society for West African Internal Audit Practitioners (SWAIAP) is poised to review the current internal auditing practices in Nigeria and West Africa in comparison with global best practices; practically sharing experiences on how we do internal auditing in our respective organizations and educating internal auditors on global best practices with emphasis on effective corporate governance, risk management system and adequate internal control and compliance and virile reporting systems, and informing stakeholders on the imperatives of effective internal auditing in West Africa.
“We would be using the Zoom virtual platform for this conference as we are encourage companies’ decision makers, business founders and staff who are interested in becoming an internal auditor to log in on the 17th of October 2020 for the conference. They would be opportuned to ask professional questions and also have an idea of the current evolution of internal auditing in Nigeria and ECOWAS region”, concluded Dr. Austin Okogun, a member board of trustees of SWAIAP.
“though internal audit isn’t a course that is offered in the tertiary institutions of the country at moment, nor offered by any Nigerian professional body, notwithstanding, that it has been a professional body since 1978, SWAIAP as a corporate organization are working hard to train internal auditors in the country and change orientation people have for internal auditing both in private and public sectors., including our institutions of learning. We believe that this conference will expose and explain why many managerial people should expose themselves to the intricacies and training of what it takes to be an internal auditor”
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