This study aimed to identify by means of self-assessment of the Public Administration Direct the Federal Executive Power, the perception of their managers about how their internal control systems ...have been used to achieve the institutional goals, with reference to the components of internal control COSO/ INTOSAI. It sought to answer if the Direct Public Administration of the Federal Executive Power, as the perception of their managers, has used internal controls as a tool to improve their performance and meet their corporate objectives. This research is the descriptive type, with documentary data collection occurred through management reports delivered to the accountability of the year 2011 to the Court of Audit (TCU) by 382 public institutions of direct administration of the federal executive branch, these documents contain a questionnaire consisting of 30 assertions that evaluate the perception of these units and the structure of its internal controls, on a scale ranging from 1 to 5. After structuring of the data, applied confirmatory factor analysis to verify that the assertions were able to measure the constructs (control components), since data analysis was made through descriptive statistics. The results showed that the institutions of direct administration of the federal executive branch do not fully utilize internal controls as a tool to improve their performance and achieve their institutional goals.
Internal auditors today observe many areas in too many organizations where accountability is overlooked in the rush to keep pace with deployment of new and emerging technologies while the ...consequences of related risks and threats do not receive appropriate attention. It is no secret that technology is frequently used to bring about harm rather than good. Yet many enterprises continue to allow technology to be implemented with weak controls and the absence of effective measures to detect when controls are breached. As a consequence, sensitive information is stolen or disclosed on a massive scale and it is virtually impossible to hold anyone accountable for the harm done.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the accountability structures and the management relationships of internal audit. In particular, related issues such as the predominant internal audit ...objectives and the related functions, the extent to which internal audit addresses any financial reporting risks and the manner in which internal auditors in Australia perform their tasks, are identified. The study also looks at the extent of compliance with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Standards.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey of the chief audit executives in Australia, the study identifies the reporting mechanisms, functions and relationships of internal audit, including the contributions made towards good corporate governance. There is, however, some misalignment between the aspirations of internal auditors and their relationships with management.
Findings
While internal audit objectives have been established with a focus on controls, risks and governance, the study has highlighted the fact that there is a lack of correlation between the tasks performed by internal auditors and the important internal audit objectives, with the exception of internal control and risks. The results also suggest that internal auditors have been providing an internal consulting and advisory role in matters concerning IT systems, strategic risks and financial issues. If internal auditors are to proactively contribute to good corporate governance, they need to define how, and in what way, this can be done. In regard to corporate governance processes, the results of the research indicate that issues surrounding internal control, risk assessment and management processes are regarded as the key factors for internal audit to contribute to good corporate governance.
Originality/value
This study complements and contributes to the existing literature in providing insights into the evolving role of the internal audit function in terms of accountabilities and relationships with management. It also provides a valuable insight into how the internal audit profession can build upon its inherent strengths and address any apparent areas of concern. This will assist both the profession and policy makers alike, in better understanding and improving the role of the internal audit process.
During the last decades, the banking financial sector has evolved. Beginning with the evolution of the products offered by banks, the risks at which a bank is exposed have diversified. By taking into ...consideration the risks that appeared and the necessity of dealing with them in an efficient way, the banking institutions have had to embrace a strategic approach of their activities on the named markets. The present paper speaks about the audit activities, the external banking audit, and the internal banking audit as well as about the main features of the audit in the banking activity. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
For over 20 years, Duke Okes has spoken and published articles on internal auditing, and trained an estimated 2,000 internal quality auditors. This insightful book is intended for those who ...understand the basics and are looking for ideas for how to improve what their organization gets out of the internal quality audit process. It is broken into three parts. Section 1 is a summary of the basic quality audit and intentionally does not include things such as training of auditors, basic auditor competencies, and so on. However, it does look at some of the more recent changes in the audit process driven by changes in standards, technology, and globalism. Section 2 includes several concepts and methods that organizations can choose to use if they want to make their quality audits more robust from a standpoint of achieving the intended purpose. Section 3 then intentionally pushes back from the standard perspective of auditing as a technical process for control and looks at softer issues that an audit program might leverage. It also tries to project a bit into the future as to how the audit role/process might change. Appendices include example audit situations to spur discussion, a SIPOC form for audit planning, and examples of quality risk management audit questions.
Concern has been raised over the dubious utility of internal control (IC) reports that contain vague disclosures of unclear meaning or that contain sweeping, albeit, and confusing statements. The ...purpose of this paper is to examine, from a Malaysian perspective, the internal audit control variables, which are directly responsible for the company to disclose their audit statements voluntarily or mandatorily and make it transparent to the shareholders and public. A total of 121 publicly traded companies were selected using the systematic sampling method from the target population of 599 companies listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia. The names of the heads of internal audit function of the sample were obtained from the Institute of Internal Auditors Malaysia. Structured interviews were conducted with 40 heads of internal audit function out of 121 companies in order to protect anonymity of the companies that did not feel comfortable responding in writing. The significant findings of this paper are that those companies which are performing well disclose their IC reports voluntarily and demonstrate a perfect relationship between their IC opinions with high internal audit quality assurance. On the other hand, there is a high level of risk management among those companies who have mandatory IC disclosures. In addition, these companies conduct frequent audit committee meetings due to the pressure from the external auditors. The studies on voluntary and mandatory disclosures by combining the characteristics of IC with audit committee effectiveness are seldom researched in the existing literature. The key contribution of this paper is the usage of IC disclosures coupled with an empirical and theoretical approach for examining the appropriate determinants influencing them.
This study examines the impact of internal audit outsourcing and involvement in consulting on external auditors’ reliance on the work of internal audit. We test whether these factors influence ...reliance on internal audit work already undertaken and the use of internal auditors as assistants, distinguishing between control evaluation and substantive testing. Involvement in consulting impacts reliance on work undertaken and the use of internal auditors as assistants for control evaluation. External auditors make greater use of internal auditors as assistants for substantive testing when internal audit is provided in‐house. Overall, external auditors use internal audit more for control evaluation tasks.
Management may be ambivalent about what they expect from internal audit. Some management teams expect not much more than for internal audit to undertake ad hoc tasks to put out bush fires in the ...business, and have little expectation that internal audit should provide them with overall assurance about governance processes, risk management, and internal control. Some management teams are resentful of the growing expectations of boards that internal audit should be an extension of the boards' eyes and ears. There can be conflicts between internal audit serving the board and internal audit serving management. Here I explore what should be the responsibilities of internal audit and how the conflicts can be mitigated. I also consider the prerequisites for internal audit to provide an effective service for the board, and also for top management-including the organizational positioning of internal audit and its independence, the scope of internal audit work, and the qualities needed in internal audit staff. I draw on recent enhanced pronouncements on internal auditing.
The purpose of this research is to identify and prioritize ethics enhancement strategies in corporate governance from internal auditing perspective. Seven elements for corporate governance are ...including: rules and regulations, board of directors, commercial ethics, communications, supervision, transparency, disclose and evaluate management risk. The statistical population are audit experts who have been selected by using judgment sampling method by 30 experts and interview has been done. Results of data analysis showed that participation pointed to 29 challenges and ethical problem pointed to 7 elements and 23 strategies were presented to enhance ethics in 7 elements. The results of fuzzy analysis indicated that, rules and regulations, supervision and board of directors have more importance in enhance ethics and solve ethical problems among 7 corporations. The results for ethics analysis in each elements indicated that legal patronage disclosers, necessity to submit education of corporate governance in board of directors, compile ethical charter for organization, culture and education on responding to communication and determine auditory committee in supervision have the more importance. The research can be regarded as a pattern to identify and prioritize strategies to enhance corporation ethics for managers, auditors and decision makers on organizations and private and public organizations.
The functioning of corporate audit committees was criticized in recent years by the Treadway Commission, the Public Oversight Board, the Kirk Panel, and the SEC Chairman. In response, the NYSE and ...NASD sponsored the Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Audit Committees. The BRC Report includes recommendations aimed at strengthening director independence and qualifications, and highlights the role of internal auditors in assisting audit committees in the corporate governance process. Moreover, the first three recommendations of the BRC relate to audit committee composition: absence of inside or “gray” directors, and presence of a member with financial expertise.
This study examines the association between audit committee composition and the committee's interaction with internal auditing. Our results, based on responses from chief internal auditors of 114 public companies, indicate that committees comprised solely of independent directors and with at least one member having an accounting or finance background are more likely to (1) have longer meetings with the chief internal auditor; (2) provide private access to the chief internal auditor; and (3) review internal audit proposals and results of internal auditing. These findings provide empirical support for the BRC's recommendations related to audit committee composition.
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