Chateram Ramdihal is the new president of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) – Guyana Chapter, which recently elected its executive for the year 2021 to 2022.
The election was held at the IIA Guyana Chapter’s Annual General Meeting on 7th December, 2020.
In addition to Ramdihal, the new executive comprises Pavita Ramkissoon (Vice President), Sherry Kissoon (Secretary), Samantha Green (Treasurer), Joshua Hammichand (Vice President Programming), Rohan Sewnarine (Vice President Membership), Jaigopaul Ram (Governor), Ramesh Seebaran (Governor), Ramesh Dookhoo (Governor), Mandie Mickle (Immediate Past President) and Goorwantie Devi Kaladeen (Past President).
According to a press release from the Guyana Chapter, Ramdihal is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), a Certified Internal Auditor and a member of The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). He has also held positions of Board Member and Vice President before being elected as President of the Chapter.
In a short speech, the release said, he informed the members that he will continue to further the work of the previous executive, which is set out in a three-year plan, of which only one year is completed. It was noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected a lot of the Chapter’s programme during 2020.
Ramdihal, the release noted, also made note of the gradual decline in the membership and vowed to work on building back the membership of the chapter.
He also highlighted that the internal audit is not given the recognition that it deserves and has committed to work hard during his presidency to ensure the importance of the profession is understood and embraced by all
The release added that with the appointment of a new executive, the Guyana Chapter hopes to continue working and maintaining the concerted effort that has been shown over the past 20 years since it was approved by the IIA Global body on 30th April, 2000. The local chapter attained became an International Chapter of IIA Global on the 11th July, 2019. Prior to then, it was a member of the North American Chapter which comprises the United States of America, Canada, and eleven Caribbean Countries.
According to the release, although the Chapter has been promoting its mandate from the IIA Global over the past 20 years, the role of the internal auditor has not yet been fully recognised.
It said evidence of this include the fact that management in both the public and private sectors is yet to fully accept the importance of the role of the internal auditor in organisations; that auditing emphasis is yet to fully focus on, among others, governance, controls and risk management, while preference is still being given to auditors with an accounting background, although such units need to be also staffed with non-accountants in order to add value and improve the organisation’s operations; the still retained view that the internal auditor and the external auditor is one and the same. And the need for more funds to be provided in the training budget for internal auditors in both sectors since the audit scope has been constantly expanding.
“The Guyana Chapter is fully aware of the areas it needs to focus on. It is the hope that the internal audit profession will continue to receive the recognition it deserves from its stakeholders, and that the importance of the profession is understood and embraced by all. Today’s internal auditors must be seen as a partner, instead of a watchdog, assisting management to increase its organisation’s effectiveness as promoted by the IIA Global,” the release said.
In 2021, it added, the Guyana Chapter will continue to intensify its promotion of the profession and in partnership with the global body. “We in Guyana have to keep abreast with the developments of this profession and to focus on not only on risk-based auditing, but also on value-based auditing and performance improvement. Internal auditors need to keep advancing this profession within their respective organisations, so that they can be viewed as not only relevant, but also as an indispensable asset,” the release added, while also noting the need for all internal auditors to be encouraged to follow the International Professional Practices Framework. “This IPPF is reviewed and updated every year which is excellent. One of the major challenges being faced is that internal audit is still not well-understood in some quarters, and one way to overcome this is for auditors to be guided by using the IPPF,” it pointed out.
