Understaffed, underpaid units stymieing development of internal auditors

Internal auditors are becoming more important to the functioning of institutions but in Guyana their development is being stymied as most units are understaffed and underpaid, according to Chairman of the Guyana Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA-Guyana) John Seeram.

Seeram told those present at the opening of a two-day IIA-Guyana seminar last Wednesday at the Regency Suites in Georgetown that the focus of internal auditing has extended beyond the accounting and financial functions of an entity to other functional areas, such as engineering, information technology and management, among others.

“[It] is designed to add value and to improve on an entity’s operations,” he noted, before adding that these developments mean that internal auditors have serious challenges ahead, which might prove difficult to cope with since they are yet to attain the required quality assurance standards.