Imparting skills: World Bank conducts workshop for PRA auditors

LAHORE:

As the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) prepares to carry out an audit of taxpayers, a workshop to help improve the auditing skills of regional commissioners was held with the World Bank’s help in Lahore recently.

The workshop titled "Crash course for auditors" was held in Lahore from September 14 to 18. The concluding ceremony was presided over by Punjab Finance Minister Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha.

The workshop equipped over 20 officers of PRA Operations Wing in Lahore and its regional commissioners with the necessary auditing skills, familiarised them with common audit problems and exposing them to real-life situations.

The training was conducted by a panel comprising World Bank Consultant Andre Vinck, Javed Ahmed and renowned chartered accountants of Pakistan over successive days. They also reviewed performances of participants, adjudging groups led by PRA Gujranwala commissioner Abdul Jawwad as the winners in the case study and simulation exercises.

Dr Pasha appreciated the assistance extended by the World Bank in holding the successful exercise and observed that such training opportunities were intended to improve the professionalism of officers.

The ceremony was attended, amongst others, by PRA chairman Dr Raheal Ahmad Siddiqui, Senior Economist World Bank Dr Muhammad Waheed, Irum Touqeer from the World Bank, PRA operations member Javed Ahmed and PRA member policy and legal Aftab Ahmed Asif.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2015.