A Model for Identification of Internal Audit Quality Criteria From the perspective of professional experts

 
Journal of Accounting Advances, (2020) 12(1):
DOI: 10.22099/JAA.2021.34214.1892
 
 
 
 
 
Journal of Accounting Advances (JAA)
Journal homepage: www.jaa.shirazu.ac.ir/?lang=en
 
 
 
 
 
 
A Model for Identification of Internal Audit Quality Criteria
From the perspective of professional experts
Saeed Mohseninia¹, Jafar Babajani^2*, Mohammadtaghi Taghavifard³
 
 
PhD Student of Accounting, School of Graduate Studies, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran, Samoh1362@yahoo.com
Full Prof of Accounting Department, Faculty of Management & Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran, jafar.babajani@gmail.com
Assistant Prof of Industrial Management Department, Faculty of Management & Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran, dr.taghavifard@gmail.com
 
 
 
 
 
 
ARTICLE INF
 
 
ABSTRACT
 
 
 
 
 
Received: 2019-10-09
Accepted: 2021-04-04
 
 
 
Internal audit is considered as one of the pillars of corporate governance in banks, corporations and organizations. The importance of internal audit in organizations across the world is undeniable. In current research, by using Delphi research methodology and a survey of 156 professional experts in internal auditing, it was tried to identify the internal audit quality criteria, in order to design a suitable model. For this end, based on the literature review and the research background, 29 criteria were identified which were classified in four sections including: a. Competence of internal auditors with eleven criteria; b. Independence of the internal audit department with eight criteria; c. Criteria related to the performance of internal audit work with seven criteria; and d. Other criteria with three criteria. Data were analyzed by utilizing R software with a confirmatory factor analysis model. The results of the study indicate that 19 criteria have been adopted, which provides a model for identification of internal audit quality criteria from the perspective of professional experts.
 
 
 
 
 
* Corresponding author:
Jafar Babajani
Full Prof of Accounting Department, Faculty of Management & Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran,
 
Email: jafar.babajani@gmail.com
 
 
 
 
 
1- Introduction
Internal audit has a critical role in managing and conducting the organization's operations. Organizations with an efficient and effective internal audit department can more accurately evaluate the risks of businesses, processes and commercial systems. The internal audit department is so important that, according to the corporate governance model of the American Institute of Internal Auditors, it is listed as one of the four cornerstones of the corporate governance, along with the audit committee, executive manager and independent auditor. In this regard, some researchers, such as Abbott and Carlos, point out that in order to achieve the desired results in a company, the mere existence of an internal audit unit is not enough, but the quality of the internal audit department that plays a critical role (Johl et al., 2013). Therefore, there is a widespread issue in the field of internal audit called "Internal Audit Quality" and various studies and researches have been conducted in this regard.
 
2- Research Questions
The aim of the study is to identify the criteria of internal audit quality from the perspective of professional experts (individuals with experience in the internal audit profession). Therefore, the following questions are proposed:
 
Which criteria are approved by professional experts to measure internal audit quality?
What is the priority (rank) of internal audit quality criteria from the perspective of professional experts?
 
 
3- Methods
In current research, by using Delphi research methodology and a survey of 156 professional experts, it was tried to identify the internal audit quality criteria approved by those experts, in order to design a suitable model for the Iran environment. To this end, based on the literature review and the research background, 29 criteria were identified which were classified in four sections including: a. Competence of internal auditors with eleven criteria; b. Independence of the internal audit department with eight criteria; c. Criteria related to the performance of internal audit work with seven criteria; and d. Other criteria with three criteria. Data were analyzed by utilizing R software with a confirmatory factor analysis model.
 
4- Results
The results of the study indicate that 19 criteria have been adopted as described below, which provides a model for Identification of Internal Audit Quality Criteria from the view of professional experts. a. Competence of internal auditors: 1. Having professional experience in independent auditing, 2. Having educational programs, 3. Having higher education, 4, 5 & 6. Being familiar with the company's industry, IT and communication skills. b. Independence of the internal audit department: 7. Direct presentation of the internal audit report to the audit committee, 8. Approval of the annual budget of the internal audit department by the audit committee, 9. Approval of the internal audit risk-based program by the audit committee, 10. Appointment and dismissal of the internal audit manager by the audit committee, c. Criteria related to the performance of internal audit work: 11. Having a charter of internal audit activity, 12. Having a risk-based program, 13. Implementing internal audit activities according to a risk-based program, 14. Utilizing a variety of hardware and software (IT), 15. The highest percentage of internal audit recommendations that have been implemented, 16. The existence of an appropriate mechanism to follow up the findings and recommendations of the audit, 17. Evaluation of the performance of the internal audit department by the audit committee, and d. Other criteria: 18. Size of internal audit department and 19. Age of internal audit department.
 
5- Conclusion
The results of the data analysis indicate that all seven criteria related to the performance of internal audit work were accepted. In this regard, the three criteria of "having a risk-based program", "implementing internal audit activities according to a risk-based program", and "Performance evaluation of the internal audit department by the audit committee" have the highest rank among the 19 internal audit quality criteria that show the importance of these criteria and their fundamental role in providing quality services of internal audit.
In the category of "competence", six criteria of the eleven criteria including "Being familiar with IT, communication skills and the company's industry", "having higher education, professional experience in independent auditing and educational programs by internal auditors", which were presented in order of importance, were accepted as criteria for assessing the quality of internal audit. Meanwhile, the five proposed criteria of this class including "having experience in internal audit and financial services", "Being a member of AICPA, Iranian official experts and Internal Auditor Institute" was not accepted. This means that from the perspective of professional experts, these criteria cannot be suitable for evaluation of internal audit quality.
It should be noted that two criteria, including "Being familiar with IT and communication skills", with a factor of more than 0.6, are in the first half of the ranking table of the internal audit quality criteria, which indicates the importance of the above criteria.
In the category of "independence", four criteria of the eight criteria including "approval of the internal audit risk-based program by the audit committee", "appointment and dismissal of the internal audit manager by the audit committee", "approval of the annual budget of the internal audit department by the audit committee" and "direct presentation of the report of the internal audit department to the audit committee", which were presented in order of importance, were accepted as criteria for evaluating internal audit quality. Hence, four other proposed criteria, including "the less the outsourced activity of the internal audit department to the entire internal audit activity", "the engagement of internal audit staff, only in internal audit work", "not providing assurance services by the internal auditor who has already been responsible for it" and "the absence of restrictions on the access of internal audit department to documents, personnel, assets and resources" was not accepted. This means that, from the perspective of professional experts, these criteria cannot be suitable for evaluating internal audit quality.
In relation to the "other criteria" category, the results of the research indicate acceptance of two criteria of the three criteria, including "the age of the internal audit department" and "the size of the internal audit department" as criteria for assessing the quality of the internal audit, but the criterion of "the amount of investment in the internal audit department" was not accepted.