The Audit Bureau and Macau Society of Registered Auditors organized a seminar dedicated to internal auditing, which took place at Audit Commission, on 20th this month. In this first joint initiative between the two organizations, both speakers recognized the central importance of internal auditing for business management and for assurance of the auditing quality of the government audit.

One of the speakers, the honorary professor at Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration College of Hong Kong Open University, Charles Fung, spoke on internal auditing as an instrument to effectively implement the policy laid down by the management. Charles Fung referred that internal auditing could be both conducted by staff of the company or by out-sourcing, and underlined its importance for all stakeholders. Charles Fung also spoke in-depth on the features which distinguish internal auditing from external auditing, the essential elements of an effective internal auditing as well as the skills an internal auditor should possess.

Other speaker, Audit Commissioner Office’s adviser, Lai Iam Moi, briefed on the duties of Macau Audit Commission and made a presentation on its internal audit unit. Lai Iam Moi underlined the great value of internal auditing for the control and assurance, which would impact on the quality of the audit reports issued by the Audit Commission. For this very reason, the Audit Commission attaches great importance to internal auditing, Lai referred.

The seminar jointly organized by Audit Bureau and Macau Society of Registered Auditors represents a step further in their exchange and cooperation and toward the establishing of a common platform in professional training for both government auditors and accounting professionals, where they could keep updated on the newest developments of auditing skills and methods.

During the Q&A session, speakers and participants engaged in an in-depth discussion on the relationship of internal audit with business activities which are becoming more and more complex. Distinguished attendants at the seminar were: Neoh Hwai Beng, Audit Bureau director; Iong Weng Ian, Vong Hou Piu and Chan Hio Wan, respectively, chairwoman of the general assembly, chairman of the board of directors and chairwoman of the supervisory board of the Macau Society Registered Auditors. Almost a hundred auditors, accountants and other accounting professionals and government auditors also attended the seminar.

Charles Fung is a registered auditor in Macau and fellow member of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA). Lai Iam Moi heads Macau Audit Commission’s internal audit unit and holds the designations of Certified Public Account (Australia) and Certified Fraud Examiner (USA). Before joining Macau Audit Commission, Lai worked in the areas of accounting, auditing, merging and acquisitions of companies, forensic accounting and financial consulting, in a career over 15 year covering Australia, Beijing and Hong Kong.