Saudi Arabia: Calls for Enhanced Accountability, Governance Mechanisms in Public Sector

Saudi government auditors meet to discuss the public sector, Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi government auditors meet to discuss the public sector, Asharq Al-Awsat
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Saudi Arabia: Calls for Enhanced Accountability, Governance Mechanisms in Public Sector

Saudi government auditors meet to discuss the public sector, Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi government auditors meet to discuss the public sector, Asharq Al-Awsat

Control specialists have called for the need to strengthen mechanisms of oversight and accountability and the implementation of governance in the Saudi public sector.

They also urged to apply tools of governance to official bodies in the Kingdom.

The specialists called for adopting independent government committees concerned with overseeing the auditing department’s work in government agencies. This, according to the specialists, will achieve continuous improvement and permanent monitoring of internal work.

These remarks were given at the first forum held on internal audits, organized by the General Auditing Bureau. Held in Riyadh, the forum witnessed the presence of 200 participants from various government agencies.

President of the Saudi General Auditing Bureau (GAB) Hussam Al-Anqari confirmed the importance of developing the role of internal audit departments in government agencies through identifying and implementing the most modern scientific and practical aspects of auditing.

The Saudi Electricity Company presented its personal experience in the process of internal control and auditing.

The forum, in its several sessions, discussed contemporary problems facing internal audits and means to develop the activation of governance mechanisms. It also highlighted the challenges faced by internal audit departments.

In addition to discussing the quality of performance of internal audit units in public sector establishments, the forum addressed ways to develop training workshops for auditors.

The forum aimed at highlighting the importance of internal audits and their role in enhancing control and governance in the government sector, as well as boosting the transfer of professional expertise, cooperation and intergovernmental agencies’ joint work in the areas of accounting and control.



Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
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Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he will nominate prominent investor Scott Bessent as US Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.

"I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," Trump said in a statement released on Truth Social. "Scott is widely respected as one of the world's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists."

Wall Street has been closely watching who Trump will pick, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term, Reuters reported
The choice came after days of deliberations by Trump as he sorted through a shifting list of candidates. Bessent spent day after day at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida providing economic advice, sources said, a proximity to the president-elect that may have helped him prevail.
Other names that had been floated included Apollo Global Management Chief Executive Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. Investor John Paulson had also been a leading candidate, but dropped out, while Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, another contender, was appointed as head of the Commerce Department.
Bessent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.
The market's surge after Trump's election victory, he wrote, signaled investor expectations of "higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalized economy for all Americans."
"Bessent has been on the side of less aggressive tariffs," said Oxford Economics' Ryan Sweet, adding that picking him makes the steep tariffs Trump proposed on the campaign trail less likely.
Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump's first Treasury chief. Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, Bessent's home state, said in a statement: "President Trump's economic agenda is in good hands with Scott Bessent. I look forward to working closely with Scott and President Trump to lower inflation and create the golden age of prosperity for the American people."