The First National Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing Was Held at Khatam University

According to Khatam University’s public relations and website department, the first “National Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing” was held with the efforts of Bank Pasargad, Khatam University, the Iranian Association of Information Technology Auditing, and Iran Management Association, over two days, Monday and Tuesday (27 and 28 Bahman), with the presence of thinkers, university professors, researchers, and activists in the field of auditing, hosted by Khatam University in Tehran.

Dr. Majid Ghasemi; President of Khatam University and President of the “First National Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing,” in the opening ceremony of this scientific event, while appreciating the planning and efforts made to hold this conference, proposed that it be held annually and also said: “For this purpose, and in order for a high-quality auditing conference to be held, it is better that a scientific meeting be held every few months with the presence of experts in this field.”

“We are witnessing a new role-playing in the field of internal auditing, and in the not-so-distant future, influenced by technological innovations and collective efforts to confront existing global challenges, the role of internal auditing will evolve into strategic consulting,” he added.

The President of Khatam University also enumerated the use of new technologies, expansion of skills and expertise, use of the enthusiasm of internal auditors to create value, gaining the support of leadership and stakeholders, and increasing awareness regarding the role of auditing, changing current attitudes (toward auditing) to align with the desired future, elevating the auditing profession and attracting talents, increasing auditors’ experience, and preserving independence and education regarding the importance of this profession as characteristics of internal auditing in its future outlook.

Before Dr. Ghasemi’s speech, the Scientific Secretary of the “Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing” also, in remarks, stating that internal auditing, with a preventive approach, is responsible for the mission of transparency and trust-building, described the elevation of the status of internal auditing to organizational advisors as one of the achievements of this profession in recent years.

Dr. Rezvan Hejazi, continuing, presented a report of the measures taken to hold this event and said: “The First National Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing was formed at the request of the Review, Supervision, and Internal Auditing Management Department of Bank Pasargad and Khatam University, and the Scientific Association of Information Technology Auditing and the Iran Management Association also assisted us in holding the event.”

According to the Scientific Secretary of the “Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing,” in total 74 papers were received by the conference secretariat, of which after initial screening 43 papers entered the review cycle, and finally 24 papers were accepted and will be presented during these two days at the conference.

Following this, Dr. Hossein Katiri; veteran auditor and author of the book “Procedures Internal Auditing,” in remarks addressed the role of internal auditors in detecting and preventing fraud in financial statements and also explained the results of research conducted in 2020 with the aim of extracting and gathering global internal auditing standards, which led to the publication of the aforementioned book.

Then Dr. Morteza Asadi; Head of the Supreme Council of the Iranian Association of Certified Public Accountants, delivered a speech on developments in auditing and banking supervision in the era of data mining and process mining, and at the outset, by providing a definition of internal auditing and while emphasizing the importance of the independence of internal auditing in increasing its effectiveness, said: “The limitations of traditional auditing include limited sampling and static and ex-post tests, and to solve the problems arising from this approach, we must shift from traditional auditing toward process mining and data mining.”+

Dr. Hojjatollah Farzani; Director of the Department for Evaluation of Managers and Supervised Persons of the Central Bank, also in remarks on internal auditing and its role as the supervisory arm of the board of directors of credit institutions, stated that the matter that the position of internal auditing managers in banks should be only one step after bank CEOs has been implemented in only 9 banks of the country, and this issue requires deep reflection.

He, stating that our distance from internal auditing standards in the world is very great, added: While major companies in the world are currently implementing the 2024 standards, we are in a situation that if we can even implement the 2017 standards in the field of internal auditing in Iran, we should be happy that we have accomplished a great task!

Farzani at the same time considered holding scientific events such as the recent conference important and said: Such events can clarify the subject literature in the target community.

This officer of Central Bank also, referring to the importance of the information technology auditing unit in banks, expressed regret that many credit institutions still do not believe in such a unit, and further recalled the challenge of retaining specialized human resources in this field and stated: At present, only in 3 credit institutions of the country do we have more than 5 human resources employed in the field of information technology auditing, and in 15 credit institutions between 1 to 5 persons are employed in this field, and the remaining credit institutions lack specialized personnel in this area.

Continuing, Dr. Ali Rahmani; faculty member of Alzahra University, in remarks addressed the topic of digital transformation and internal auditing and, referring to global developments that have affected this profession, described the year 2020, in which the world witnessed the coronavirus pandemic, widespread social unrest, political developments, and successive economic crises, as an unprecedented year in the history of organizations which, according to him, was able to confront the internal auditing units of these organizations with numerous challenges in providing assurance and consulting services.

He at the same time said: In such circumstances, effective use of technology and moving toward digital transformation became a strategic matter for internal auditing, and from this year onward, we have witnessed a serious metamorphosis in the field of internal auditing in the world. Today artificial intelligence is automating auditing procedures, and we must learn and teach the use of new tools in this field.

At this conference, Dr. Mohammad Ali Bagherpour; faculty member of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, in remarks spoke of value creation and the strategic role of risk-based process-oriented internal auditing and stated: If we are to implement internal auditing in our country, the processes of each organization must be able to play three main roles: executive and operational role, information and reporting role, and control role.

Also Dr. Sasan Mehrani; Head of the Accounting Department of the University of Tehran, at the “Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing,” spoke of the importance of continuous auditing and its role in detecting fraud and reminded: “To reduce risk and ensure reports, we need continuous auditing, and this type of auditing is the future of internal auditing; because it is instantaneous, its analysis is based on all data, it is follow-up oriented, and it analyzes future risk.”

Dr. Rahnama Roudposhti; faculty member of Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, also at this conference spoke of the function of digital technology in internal auditing and, stating that we live in a period in which if internal auditing cannot move at the speed of data production, it will practically fall behind the train of transformation, emphasized: Today the application of artificial intelligence in the field of internal auditing is mainly focused on sensitivity analysis and also risk prediction. Nevertheless, the most successful internal auditing units are not necessarily those that have purchased the most advanced artificial intelligence equipment, but rather those that have built the best bridges between generations.

Following the programs of the “Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing,” three specialized meetings (panels) around the main themes of the conference were held with the presence of specialists in each field on the first day of the event (Monday, Feb 16, 2026).

In the first meeting with the topic “Perspectives of Internal Auditing,” Dr. Seyed Ali Hosseini; Associate Professor of Auditing at Alzahra University, who was responsible for the panel, said: We have worked a lot in the field of internal auditing and have accumulated extensive experience, and I suggest that the Internal Auditing Association, by utilizing this knowledge, seek to strengthen the skills of those employed in this field.

Also Dr. Beita Mashayekhi; Professor of Accounting and faculty member of the University of Tehran, in remarks on the topic of the future of internal auditing: from compliance to consulting, spoke of a kind of metamorphosis in internal auditing influenced by the entry of artificial intelligence into this field and stated: Accordingly, this profession must be redefined, and for survival internal auditing must adapt itself to the new world, not work with old tools in a new world.

Dr. Shahrokh Shahrabi; Deputy of Risk and Internal Auditing of the Snapp Group, also in this meeting addressed the quality of internal auditing in Iran and described it as the missing حلقه of internal auditing and said: “Current mechanisms do not lead to high-quality, usable, and effective outputs by stakeholders. Weakness in legislation and failure to update it, lack of investment in training high-quality human resources, and failure to adhere to global internal auditing standards are other factors of low auditing quality.

Dr. Leila Zamani; faculty member of Khatam University, also in this panel addressed the current challenges and obstacles to strengthening internal auditing and recalled the impact of new technologies on the future of this profession and at the end presented solutions for improving the situation of internal auditing in the country.

The second panel of this conference was held with the topic “Internal Auditing and ESG,” in which Dr. Shima Ahmadi; faculty member of the Accounting Group of Khatam University, who was also responsible for the panel, in remarks addressed the role of internal auditing in establishing internal controls of sustainability data based on the COSO framework and, by raising the question whether sustainability in an organization is a communicative narrative or information obtained from a control system, attempted to answer it and in this regard said: In Iran the most important risk regarding sustainability trends is that the data are fragile. The reason is that the nature of financial data differs from the nature of non-financial data. Another reason is that we do not have a proper control architecture over the data.

In the same meeting, Dr. Elaheh Ahmadi Amin; faculty member of Alzahra University, first presented a definition of sustainability and considered it to include three concepts: economic, social, and environmental, and emphasized the necessity of paying attention to this issue in the current era and said: It is necessary in the internal auditing units of our organizations to benefit from those who are knowledgeable about sustainability because the strategic goals of sustainability and the goals of the internal auditing unit are common.

Dr. Abbas Mohammadi; member of the Iranian Association of Certified Accountants, also in the said panel spoke of regional risks and the role of internal auditors in controlling them and in this regard emphasized: The risks to which a business unit is exposed include region-related physical risks and region-related transition risks.

The title of the third panel of the “First National Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing” was “Interaction of Internal Auditing and Independent Auditing in the Path of the Outlook of Internal Auditing and Review of the Current Situation, Challenges, and Evaluation Models,” in which Dr. Amirhossein Bahramian, as the head of the meeting, in remarks in this regard, considered one of the weaknesses that has caused the role of internal auditing in the country to remain unknown as arising from the lack of motivation and laziness of activists in this profession and said: “Long and tiring reports and repetition of the obvious have caused managers to become weary of auditors.”

Dr. Morteza Darvishi; PhD graduate in Accounting and researcher and activist in this field, also spoke on the topic of comparing internal auditing and independent auditing and the challenges and evaluation models of each of them and emphasized: “The retrospective approach of internal auditing in the past is now obsolete, and the structure of organizations based on performance management has become traditional, and employees are grouped based on hierarchy in a completely defined management system.”

According to him, in this approach, the line of power has reached the highest possible level and those lower in the hierarchy must be accountable to those higher; but in organizations based on process management, the focus, contrary to hierarchy, is only on the process.

Dr. Mohammad Ali Riahi; expert in the field of auditing and accounting, also in the said meeting addressed the topic of synergy in assurance: interaction of internal and independent auditing, and said: “One of our concerns regarding the interaction of these two is the closed guard of independent auditing. The current situation in this regard is not interesting, and the interaction between independent and internal auditing is a one-sided interaction, and overall these two have limited coexistence.

Dr. Gholamreza Hassan-Balaei; Director of Inspection and Internal Auditing Affairs of Bank Pasargad and Executive Secretary of the conference, also in remarks announced the creation of an award within the framework of the “National Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing” for selecting the top internal auditing unit of the country starting next year.

He also in remarks described internal auditing as the strategic consultant of the organization and, referring to the constructive interaction that exists between the Inspection and Internal Auditing Unit of Bank Pasargad and the management of this bank, regarding the interaction of independent and internal auditing said: The interaction between internal auditing and independent auditing must change from a simple cooperation to a strategic and organizational assurance partnership. The future of this relationship depends on the integration of assurance approaches, shared use of technology, promotion of the professional maturity of internal auditing, and definition of new performance evaluation models.

The programs of the “First National Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing” continued on the second day (Tuesday, 28 Bahman) with the holding of 6 other specialized meetings (panels). The fourth panel of this conference was dedicated to the topic “Impact of Technology on Internal Auditing,” in which Dr. Mohab-Ali Kanaani; Director of Internal Auditing of Pasargad Electronic Payment Company, in remarks considered data analysis, data mining, and continuous monitoring as an inseparable part of the mission of internal auditing.

Stating that the traditional model of internal auditing was based on sampling but now that transactions have become online, internal auditing must move toward continuous assurance, he described the formation of the Internal Auditing Technology Working Group in the Iranian Auditing Association as a hopeful development and evaluated it as an effort to create a common language between auditing and technology.

Dr. Neda Rasouli; faculty member of Khatam University, also in this panel addressed the importance of examining individual factors affecting the acceptance of artificial intelligence among internal auditors and, stating that internal auditors face complex concerns and challenges in applying technology, emphasized: We must strive to remind them of the benefits of artificial intelligence for enhancing their position.

Dr. Hamed Pourhaji; Deputy of Risk, Auditing, and Compliance of the Digikala Investment Group, also in this meeting addressed the advantages of using artificial intelligence in auditing and fraud detection and said: “Based on a survey conducted among 1200 major companies in the world, the detected frauds in them have been able to reduce up to 5 percent of their revenues, which was equivalent to 534 billion dollars. The question is whether with current methods this amount of fraud can be dealt with? Certainly not.”

He added: “Digikala previously used various tools such as whistleblowing systems and others to detect such frauds and still uses those methods, but since 2022 it has moved toward using a Rule-Based fraud detection system and from this year has also put into operation a system based on artificial intelligence. This system is connected to all Digikala data and provides us output in a central core. I can state that the speed of fraud detection with this artificial intelligence model is 50 times that of previous methods.”

Dr. Masoud Zohrabi; Project Manager of Information Technology Auditing at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, also in this panel presented points on the necessity of updating the systems used in internal auditing with regard to technological advances and new control requirements.

Dr. Alireza Soroush; researcher in information technology auditing at Saman Kish Electronic Payment Company, also in this panel spoke of the distinction between information technology audit and computer-assisted audit techniques and the future of internal auditing and reminded: “The issue of information technology audit focuses on systems and controls, but the main issue in computer-assisted auditing is the analysis of financial data and bulk information processing, and in drafting the internal auditing charter we must specify the boundary between these two. By using artificial intelligence in internal auditing, we can better detect fraud and analyze contracts. Artificial intelligence does not eliminate the auditor, but it eliminates the traditional auditor, yes.”

The fifth panel of this conference was dedicated to the topic “Changes in Internal Auditing Standards,” in which Dr. Vahid Menati; faculty member of Shahid Beheshti University, referred to the most important changes in global internal auditing standards and, referring to the 2024 standards that include 15 core principles, considered its fundamental difference from the 2017 standards in highlighting the provision of public interest, attention to sustainability issues, and the impact of internal auditing beyond the organizational boundaries.

Dr. Hamidreza Ganji; Assistant Professor of the Accounting Department of Alzahra University, also in this panel referred to key concepts in GIAS 2024 and, by reviewing common legal systems including civil laws and shared principles, addressed legislative developments in this field.

The sixth panel of this conference was also dedicated to the topic “Challenges of Information Technology Auditing in Banks,” in which Dr. Saeed Mamouri; Deputy Head of Information Technology Auditing of Bank Mellat, in remarks emphasized: “Today auditing is no longer limited to examining forms and documents, and we are compelled to use artificial intelligence and cloud and cyber technologies in our field of work.”

Dr. Vahideh Mojtahed; Director of Internal Auditing of Bank Saman, also in this meeting spoke of the integrated model of information technology auditing in decision-making and the competitive advantage of her bank in this regard and, referring to the importance of data-driven decision-making in the digital era, said: “The reality is that the data presented to senior managers do not have reliability and assurance, and decisions based on them are accompanied by risk.”

She also, by explaining the integrated model of assurance of the strategic value of information technology, enumerated the dynamic nature and alignment of IT with strategic decisions as fundamental principles of this model.

Dr. Vahid Doostmohammadi; specialist in the field of auditing and accounting, also in his speech in this panel addressed the challenges of information technology auditing and, referring to the multiplicity of regulatory bodies in the field of information technology, said: “Nevertheless, the trustee of integration of the information technology auditing system in our country is unspecified, and this has led to the implementation of multiple audits and waste of resources of banks and regulatory bodies. On the other hand, it must be emphasized that the use of tools in information technology without attention to prerequisites in planning for the future is damaging.”

Dr. Hamid Gardesh; advisor of governance courses and information technology auditing services of Bank Pasargad, also in this meeting, emphasizing the necessity of redefining information technology auditing in the digital era, said: “If information technology auditing cannot create added value for an organization or a bank, it has not fulfilled its duty. At Bank Pasargad we work to create added value and fortunately good successes have been achieved.”

The seventh panel of this conference was also dedicated to the topic “Risk-Based Internal Auditing,” in which Dr. Mohsen Gholamrezaei; PhD graduate in Accounting, in his speech in this meeting, referring to the necessity of preparing a system evaluation checklist in internal auditing sampling, said: “It is not necessary for the internal auditing committee to be under the supervision of the board of directors and it must be directly in contact with the CEO.”

Dr. Maryam Gol Mohammadi; faculty member of the Accounting Department of Allameh Tabataba’i University, also in her speech on the topic of risk-based planning in internal auditing, referring to the 2024 International Professional Practices Framework of internal auditing, emphasized the necessity of strategic planning in internal auditing units and said: “In many business units we still do not have a governance document and strategic planning, and these units lack an effective risk management section; whereas in internal auditing we must have risk-based planning.

Dr. Hadiseh Haj Moradkhani; Assistant Professor of the Accounting Department of Islamic Azad University, Yadegar-e-Imam Branch, also in this specialized meeting addressed the role of internal auditing in organizational risk management and, while providing a definition of internal auditing, reminded: The position of internal auditing is different from risk management. Internal auditing reports to higher authorities but risk management reports to middle managers.

Dr. Azadeh Maddahi; faculty member of Alzahra University, also in this panel addressed the necessity of effective implementation of risk-based internal auditing and recalled the necessity of effectively strengthening internal auditing and elevating the position and independence of the internal auditing unit in companies.

The eighth meeting of this conference was dedicated to the topic “Agile Internal Auditing,” in which Dr. Naser Kalbasi; Deputy of Financial and Economic Affairs of Kourosh Investment Group, in remarks emphasizing the importance of shortening time in agile auditing, said: “The information of the internal auditing group of each company must be online, which is obtained through various means including whistleblowing systems.”

Dr. Farzad Haji Azimi; researcher and activist in the field of management of audit committees, also in this panel addressed the implementation of the agile approach in internal auditing activities and stated: “One of the projects we carried out in this field focused on the use of the agile approach in the activities of internal auditing units.”

Dr. Mehdi Alinejad; faculty member of a university and consultant in the field of business, also in his speech on the topic of modern internal auditing and antifragility, emphasizing that all our lives are shaped by our decisions and according to research conducted in 2016 each human being makes 35,000 decisions per day, stated: “This amount of decision-making automatically leads to a phenomenon called decision fatigue and a kind of fragility in the individual.”

He added: “Antifragility means that conditions must be managed in such a way that not only do we withstand shocks, but we also welcome them; because it is these shocks that make us stronger. In other words, we must treat the crisis before the crisis occurs.”

The ninth panel of this conference was dedicated to the topic “Organizational Culture and Internal Auditing,” in which Dr. Azar Saemian; Secretary of Iran Management Association and Director of the meeting, in remarks referring to the importance of culture as well as the human capital of an organization in enhancing its organizational culture, said: “In the topic of culture, issues such as agility can be discussed and analyzed. Regarding auditing, what awaits this profession is that internal auditing in the future will move out of a microscopic, intra-company, and national state, and one of the important issues in this regard is readiness for risk.”

Dr. Mansourali Bagh-Abrishami; faculty member of Khatam University, also in this panel spoke of the impact of organizational culture on internal auditing and, by examining the philosophy and existential roots of organizational culture, emphasized: “When managers have concern for accountability regarding their duties, naturally this concern spreads to middle levels as well. The reason for the failure of organizations in the field of internal auditing must be sought in organizational culture.”

Dr. Javad Tabe’ Jamaat; researcher in the field of organizational culture, also in this panel, by raising the question why despite the existence of identical control frameworks, performance results in similar and even different organizations are different from one another, attempted to answer it and stated: The answer to the question goes back to one factor, and that is organizational culture. The relationship between organizational culture and internal auditing relates to the framework of the control environment, and if in organizational culture transparency is considered a value, internal auditing is regarded as an inseparable part of the culture of organizations. Organizational culture determines the extent of cooperation of units with the internal auditing unit.

Also Dr. Mahnaz Mahmoudkhani; researcher in the field of organizational culture, in this panel examined the role of culture in internal auditing and corporate governance and, referring to the position of culture in the corporate governance guideline, said: “The non-delegable duty of the board of directors of a company is culture, and internal auditors can also play a role in identifying the root cause of problems in the organization’s culture.”

In the section related to the closing ceremony program of the “First National Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing,” the final statement of the conference was read by Dr. Gholamreza Hassan-Balaei; Director of Inspection and Internal Auditing Affairs of Bank Pasargad as the Executive Secretary of this conference, and subsequently by awarding certificates of appreciation and prizes, the authors of the selected conference papers were honored as follows:

 

• First paper: Morteza Asadi and Mina Farnoud
• Second paper: Ali Safari Taherkhani and Gholamreza Hassan-Balaei
• Third paper: Neda Rasouli and Parsa Firouzabadi

 

The closing part of the “First National Conference on Perspectives in Internal Auditing” was the speech of Dr. Majid Ghasemi; President of the Conference and President of Khatam University as the host of this event, who emphasized: “The position of auditing in a financial and economic institution is a very important position, and individuals with high culture must be present in this position; because the person in this position is not supposed to have narrow-mindedness and undue strictness; although he must act with great precision.”