Pearl Initiative Spotlights Technology-driven Business Integrity Practices to Regional Leaders

Wednesday 14 November 2018
Abu Dhabi - MENA Herald:

Pearl Initiative - the leading Gulf business-led, non-profit organisation promoting a corporate culture of accountability and transparency as a key driver of competitiveness across the Region, today delivered a seminar titled “Business Integrity Principles: Driving Implementation for Sustainability” at Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Facilitated by Neal Ysart, Director at EY MENA’s Forensic Technology & Discovery Services, and Ateed Hijazi, Senior Consultant at EY, the seminar focused on the current state of business integrity, while also exploring the future of compliance and monitoring to better manage business risks and improve overall business performance.

The seminar highlighted the various methods through which private businesses in the Gulf Region were able to leverage existing and emerging technologies to accelerate anti-corruption efforts and reduce the time needed to make tangible impact.

Bringing existing best practice examples of success to the fore, it featured case studies on the role of technology in preventing, detecting, monitoring, and investigating workplace fraud and corruption.

More than 20 participants, who included senior professionals and industry leaders from a number of public and private companies in the UAE and the region, took advantage of the seminar to discuss current and potential compliance risks and opportunities as well as the growing importance of data analytics and robotics.

During the event, Neal Ysart highlighted that “for the future, digital disruption will significantly impact compliance programs, evolving them from a reactive rules-based approach to proactive engagement with the business and promotion of the Integrity Agenda.”

Yasmine Omari, Head of Programmes at the Pearl Initiative, emphasised the pivotal role technology plays in shaping and driving today’s business environment, including integrity practices, she said: “Forty-eight per cent of Middle East respondents of an EY Global Fraud Survey carried out in 2017 cited fraud and corruption as the greatest risk to their company, followed by cyberattacks.”

Omari added: “It is important that compliance initiatives in these organisations keep pace with the rapid technological advancements and the increasingly complex risk environments faced by these organisations.”

The event was part of the Pearl Initiative’s Anti-Corruption Best Practices programme, which, supported by the Siemens Integrity Initiative, aligns with the organisation’s mission to promote a corporate culture of accountability and transparency as a key driver of competitiveness across the Gulf Region.

The Pearl Initiative has developed the Gulf Integrity Indicator tool to measure the integrity practices within an organisation and issued reports and practical guides in Arabic and English on the effective implementation of business integrity policies and initiatives.

The organisation is planning to hold 63 events across the Gulf Region in the coming year to enable regional businesses to learn more about integrity practices and their business case.

Founded in 2010, the Pearl Initiative develops programmes and publishes regional research reports and case studies, with aims to influence the regional business and student communities towards implementing higher standards of corporate governance within the Gulf Region.

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