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GENERAL NEWS cont.
In attendance at the recent AWCA Duke Leadership Programme graduation were Zama Khanyile, AWCA
President (back row, third from left); Sharmla Chetty, Duke Corporate Education RSA President, Africa & Global
Managing Director, Europe & Africa (back row, fifth from left); as well as, Bernard Agulhas, IRBA CEO; and
Professor Owen Skae, the course lecturer from Rhodes University (in the front row).
women can play in bringing gender balances to the boards on
which they serve. He then congratulated the graduates on taking
their roles and responsibilities on boards seriously.
The IRBA continues to build a close working relationship with AWCA
and commends the association on this worthy leadership initiative.
The CEO Speaks at the Fraud Examiners’ Conference
This year’s annual conference of the Association of Certified Fraud
Examiners took place on 15-17 October 2018 at the Sandton
Convention Centre. IRBA CEO Bernard Agulhas was a speaker
on the second day of the conference, and he gave an address on
future-focused regulation for Africa. He spoke about the important
role of auditors in contributing to efficient and robust capital markets,
while also emphasising the role of the IRBA in maintaining oversight
over auditors and auditing standards.
Highlighting recent corporate fraud and business collapses, the
CEO stressed that there is a limitation on the external auditors’
abilities to detect fraud and that an expectation gap exists as
the public expects so much more. He focused on the five lines
of defence model, stressing that the financial reporting chain has
many different players and the external auditor is only one of those.
He, however, indicated that the IRBA is aware that the expectation
gap means the audit product itself may need to be adjusted. He
noted that the regulator is considering a revision of standards to
increase the work auditors should do around fraud detection.
This would have a consequence in terms of auditor training and
qualifications. This is because auditors currently do not have the
same level of competency that forensic investigators and fraud
examiners have when it comes to fraud detection. As such, these
specific competencies would need to be incorporated, to some
degree, into the Audit Development Programme.
He concluded by giving a review of some of the developments
across the continent with regards to accounting and auditing
initiatives that are focused on continental integration. The risks of
fragmented regulation are high on the agenda of most regulators and
recognition has been given to the need to pursue comprehensive
regulation of the accounting related professions.
Issue 44 | October-December 2018
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