30 May 2019

Internal auditors are among professionals who are key in ensuring good governance and accountability, says acting President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane.

Officially opening the sixth annual conference of the African Federation of the Institute of Internal Auditors (AFIIA), Mr Tsogwane said the event took place after meetings of the African Peer Review Mechanism, which Botswana became signatory to early this year. 

Among the key indicators, he said, were good governance among member states, adding that “the role of internal auditors is critical in view of the fact that they undertake key principles of corporate governance; fairness, accountability, responsibility and transparency,” Mr Tsogwane said.

He said these principles were at heart of economic growth and improving the livelihood of people.  

Giving example of the Enron scandal where American energy firm Enron went bankrupt and accounting firm Arthur Andersen was dissolved after a large scale audit fraud, Mr Tsogwane said poor auditing was bad for economies.

 He said Botswana was honoured to host such an important international meeting of professionals and urged them to come up with ideas to better the conduct of their vocation and by extension contribute to better governance in their different nation states.

The president of the AFIIA Governing Council, Mr Eric Yankah of Ghana said they were proud to be hosting this year’s conference in Botswana, a country he described as being known for good governance, zero tolerance for corruption and an examplary beacon of hope for the African continent.

AFIIA chief executive officer, Mr Richard Chambers, said their organisation had over 200 000 professionals in over 170 countries and counted Botswana as one of the key states that produced quality internal auditors. 

He said since the occasion drew professional internal auditors from different African states, it was vital that they used the opportune moment to network and strengthen their working relations.

 The conference brought together participants from member countries across the African continent. ends