Osama Harmouche elevated to Head of Audit, KPMG Lower Gulf to transform practices
KPMG Lower Gulf has announced the appointment of Osama Harmouche as the new Head of Audit, strengthening the firm’s senior leadership team in the Middle East. Osama, who took up his new role effective 1 February 2022, has been in the firm’s leadership team as the Office Managing Partner and Head of Audit for Abu Dhabi since 2019, and became a Lower Gulf board member in May 2020. Osama will join the KPMG Lower Gulf executive committee and will be responsible for continuing the firm’s journey of transformation of the Audit practice across the Lower Gulf offices.
With over 25 years of experience providing audit and assurance services across a wide variety of clients, Osama has implemented global best practices to strengthen the transformation journey across our offices. His knowledge, diligence, dedication to quality and client-focused mindset have resulted in KPMG increasing its market share and redefining quality.
Nader Haffar, Chairman of Middle East and South Asia, Chairman and CEO of KPMG Lower Gulf said, “I’m pleased to announce Osama’s appointment as our new Head of Audit. As the region recovers from the challenges brought by the pandemic, there is a greater need for innovative solutions to be continually brought to the audit profession to support business transformation we see on the horizon. At KPMG, we have the skills, expertise and opportunity to make a difference and support regional businesses navigate this new reality. Audit quality remains a primary pillar of our strategy and a key priority for us at KPMG. I know Osama will bring his leadership, energy and focus to lead our Audit practice through these changes and I am confident that he will uphold and reinforce our position as the most trusted and trustworthy firm for our clients, regulators, and our people.”
Osama Harmouche, Head of Audit, KPMG LG said, “I’m delighted to be appointed to lead our Audit practice. Our profession has played and continues to play a critical role in building trust in financial reporting. There is a continuous need to enhance corporate reporting for the benefit of all market participants. We are in a very dynamic region and we have much to do given the transformation in the profession and the amount of change in the regulatory landscape. This will help shape the future for a profession that delivers high quality audits and acts in the public interest. I’m confident that by working with the great people in our business, we will continue to lead this transformation and inspire trust in the profession. I’m also looking forward to working with my colleagues in the leadership team and contributing to the wider firm’s ambitions and goals.”
Over the past five years, in order to fulfil its responsibilities to the public, KPMG has made significant investments in developing its Audit processes, people, advanced digital capabilities and other areas of specialty. Led by Mr Harmouche, the Audit practice is committed to making further investments to drive its quality agenda while improving the consistency and efficiency of its audits.
A key pillar of this concerted plan to bolster audit quality is its technology agenda. One example of this is KPMG’s smart audit platform, KPMG Clara. Its flexible deployment in the cloud or on-premise, and capabilities such as Dynamic Risk Assessment, enable risk analysis in multiple dimensions.
The firm is increasingly using tools such as robotics, machine learning and natural language processing to drive granular and sophisticated analyses. Intelligent automation and cognitive technology are being used so that KPMG auditors can scrutinise risks in depth, gain a deeper understanding of businesses and arrive at optimal assessments.
