ICARDA News

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE DRY AREAS
P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012
Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105; E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG
Website: http://www.icarda.cgiar.org

CGIAR internal auditors and finance professionals were applauded for their efforts in professional improvement to ensure increased financial accountability of the centers, when ICARDA Director General Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy opened the CGIAR Auditors' Professional Development Week at the Center on 30 September.
     Internal auditors and finance professionals from 12 CGIAR centers are taking part in the Week, being held at ICARDA from 30 September to 3 October, joined by senior finance professionals from the private and public sector. The job of the centers' finance units is to "minimize risk and optimize opportunity," Prof. Dr El-Beltagy told the group.
     "To do this we need staff with dedication, working within ethical codes, to build centers that are vibrant, with good reputation, and accountable for every cent that is given by donors," he said.
     Prof. El-Beltagy extended a special welcome to guest participants, Mr Muhammad Siddiqui, Senior Vice President, Internal Audit, Emirates Group; Mr Ian Thomas, Internal Auditor, Department for International Development (DFID), UK; and Dr Maria Iskandarani, from the CGIAR Secretariat.
     Mr John Fitzsimon, Head, Internal Audit Unit, CGIAR

System Office, congratulated the workshop organizing team and the CGIAR Internal Audit Consortium, which now includes 10 member centers.
     Mr Ravi Tadvalkar, Lead Financial Officer, CGIAR Secretariat, and Chair of Sponsors of the CGIAR Internal Audit Consortium, called on those taking part to spend the week to "think about the challenges faced, set up some focal groups, and take collective action."
    The workshop is being held to:

• update knowledge of internal auditing, internal control, risk assessment, and corporate governance issues and techniques
  
• provide an opportunity for face-to-face interaction among members of the CGIAR internal audit community and their supporters within the CGIAR system
  
• jointly assess progress in implementing the CGIAR internal audit guidelines (FG3) and the IIA Professional Practices Framework
  
• make suggestions for changes to be made to FG3 in the light of experience and external developments in the internal and external auditing professions
  
• share experience on using various audit tools and techniques to increase the value of internal audit work
  
• discuss developments affecting the CGIAR System and centers that are relevant to IA risk assessments and audit planning
  
• identify where CGIAR internal auditors can collaborate more closely, together and with other parts of the CGIAR system, to improve the IA service to the centers.

ICARDA's (www.icarda.org) mission is to improve the welfare of people and alleviate poverty through research and training in dry areas of the developing world by increasing production, productivity, and nutritional quality of food, while preserving and enhancing the natural resource base. ICARDA is a Future Harvest Center.