Abu Dhabi hosts major international audit leaders’ conference with focus on AI governance
Over 800 chief audit executives and internal audit leaders from 25 nations gathered in Abu Dhabi for the CAE Conference 2026, convened under the patronage of the Minister of Economy and Tourism to explore governance, compliance and the auditing profession's evolving role in an age of artificial intelligence.
Abu Dhabi has welcomed 820 Chief Audit Executives and internal audit leaders from 25 countries for the CAE Conference 2026, a significant gathering of the profession’s most senior figures held at Hilton Abu Dhabi Yas Island. The three-day conference, organised by the UAE Internal Auditors Association under the patronage of Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Tourism, brought together those responsible for providing boards, regulators and investors with independent assurance concerning organisational governance and control.
The Minister underscored the United Arab Emirates’ continued advancement of its legislative and regulatory framework governing the accounting and auditing profession. The recent issuance of the Accounting and Auditing Profession Law has strengthened oversight and governance whilst enhancing business transparency and efficiency in consonance with international best practices. He noted that the number of licensed accountants in the UAE has surpassed 1,100, with the Ministry targeting an increase to 1,500 individual practitioners over the next five years. This expansion will be supported by the development of a regulatory framework leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance the efficiency of oversight and inspection.
Convened under the theme “Connect. Innovate. Transform.”, the conference’s comprehensive programme addressed internal audit, corporate governance, enterprise compliance and internal controls, with particular emphasis on the governance of artificial intelligence. This focus reflects the UAE’s advancement of a national framework to transition half of government sectors and services to agentic AI within two years, a transformation that necessitates rigorous independent assurance of algorithmic decision-making.
Dr. Ali Bin Mohammed AlMuwaijei, Chairman of the Board of the UAE Internal Auditors Association, articulated the profession’s enduring significance in an age of intelligent systems. “When a machine makes the decision, someone must still tell the board it was the right one,” he observed, encapsulating the central role of auditors in maintaining accountability as automation reshapes governance. The conference programme opened with an AI Masterclass and progressed to a two-day main conference featuring more than 40 speakers and over 23 Continuing Professional Education credits. Sessions explored AI governance, AI-enabled assurance, transformation risk, enterprise resilience, fraud investigation and integrated assurance.
The Association presented its report on the state of the internal audit profession in the UAE and introduced its Certified Executive Leadership Program, designed to prepare current and future Chief Audit Executives for board-level leadership responsibilities. Fourteen entities received recognition for achieving general conformance in their external quality assessments, a distinction marking the independent verification of internal audit function quality and strong governance within their organisations.
Source: WAM
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