A proposed internal audit tool to improve internal audit effectiveness in South African national departments
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
Increasing governance related issues are plaguing the South African government, which have in recent times seen many state institutions facing serious financial and operational related challenges to the point where the National Treasury had to bail out public institutions. Internal audit is a vital component of governance structures within organisations, as internal audit functions (IAF) provides support to the its governing bodies through the provision of assurance and consulting services on the effectiveness of risk management, controls and governance processes. The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has made the development and implementation of a quality assurance and improvement programme (QAIP) mandatory in term of standard 1300 of the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (The Standards). This augments the importance of measuring the quality delivered by internal auditors to their key stakeholders. Literature revealed that the quality or effectiveness of IAFs’ management support, independence and its competence are factors that can be positively correlated to internal audit effectiveness (IAE). However, the existence of a quality assurance self-assessment preparation (QASP) tool appears to be limited. Therefore, the aim of his study was to propose such a tool to aid IAFs in South African government national departments in conducting their own self-assessments. This could
capacitate IAFs in the public sector to assess their effectiveness. This study found that there is a need for quality assurance self-assessment preparation (QASP) tool to help IAFs assess their effectiveness. Four key themes emerged from the findings, namely, IAE, internal assessments, a measurement tool and external audit reliance culminating into a proposed QASP tool. It is therefore recommended that IAFs of national departments in the South African public sector take cognisance of the proposed tool to improve internal audit quality and ultimately governance and service delivery
Description
A research report presented in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Business Administration to the Faculty of Commerce, Law, and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2021
Keywords
Internal Audit Quality Assurance, Self-assessment Tool, Institute of Internal Audit Quality Assessment Manual, Internal Audit Effectiveness Indicators, UCTD
Citation
Seitei, Zondre Launchya . (2021). A proposed internal audit tool to improve internal audit effectiveness in South African national departments [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/41454