Talal Bakhsh

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Developed and executed the Internal Audit Department’s strategic and annual plans, including conducting an entity-wide risk assessment to prioritize auditable entities in alignment with organizational objectives, governance requirements, and PIF guidelines.
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Prepared and monitored the Internal Audit Department’s annual budget and manpower plan, ensuring optimal resource allocation, alignment with audit priorities, and efficient utilization of co-sourced audit partners.
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Developed the Internal Audit governance framework by authoring the Internal Audit Charter and Procedures Manual, establishing standardized audit practices aligned with PIF governance and IIA standards.
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Fostered effective collaboration with senior management and co-sourced audit partners to align audit priorities, methodologies, and reporting practices with PIF governance and IIA standards.
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Led the development of the annual internal control assessment statement, providing independent assurance on governance, risk management, and control effectiveness, and oversaw the full cycle of audit observation follow-up to ensure timely implementation and accountability across departments.
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Ensured high-quality audit documentation in line with Internal Audit policies and professional standards, maintaining accuracy, completeness, and traceability of audit work.
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Draft/review Internal Audit reports along with the risk, impact and recommendations for each identified observation and conduct an exit / validation meeting with the respective process owners (e.g., head of departments / functions) to confirm findings.

• Executed risk-based operational audit assignments across core business functions including Procurement,
Inventory Control, HSSE, Customer Service, Legal, Network Operations, and Project and Facilities
Management.
• Conducted multi-site operational audit across Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, and Al-Qassim, ensuring consistent
internal control standards across all regional operations.
• Developed audit programs, led opening and closing meetings with department heads, and produced final audit
reports documenting findings, risk ratings, and recommendations.
• Monitored implementation of audit recommendations against agreed timelines and escalated where necessary.
• Contributed to the annual risk assessment process and audit planning cycle as input to the Audit Committee
approved audit plan.

• Follow up on the daily activity and work of staff auditors, review and edit audit reports for issuance.