Gulf Drilling International (GDI), a subsidiary of Gulf International Services (GIS) and the largest services group in Qatar, has won the 2015 ICAEW Excellence Award under the “Internal Audit Excellence” category, GDI said in a statement.
The statement said GDI chief internal auditor Imran Zia and Omar al-Shahri of the operation department represented GDI to receive the award.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) is a leading professional membership organisation, which has initiated the Middle East Accountancy & Finance Excellence Awards.
All nominations were carefully evaluated by ICAEW’s UK and Middle East committees under strict criteria. GDI was chosen as the winner after its internal audit function played a pivotal role in enhancing and embedding corporate governance, risk management, and assurance in the company.  The audit’s “proactive function” has “effectively-contributed” to the management of business risks, augmenting GDI’s ability to weather wider economic conditions, the statement further said.
GDI chief executive officer Mubarak A al-Hajri said: “The award is a true reflection of our commitment towards improving corporate culture and bringing more transparency and efficiency in everything we do. We will continue to work hard in bringing GDI to a higher level.”
Zia said: “It’s a great recognition of the work done by internal audit function in the organisation. This is a proud moment for GDI.” He emphasised that top management’s support also plays a “crucial role” in the success of any internal audit function.
“GDI is lucky to have the top management, which is very open and supportive. In this age and time, one can only succeed by exerting collaborative team effort and working with the management. It means seeing audit’s success as linked to the success of management,” he added.