本研究旨在探討內部稽核單位規模之影響因素，透過問卷調查方式向國內上市櫃公司的稽核主管蒐集相關資料，藉此瞭解內部稽核單位的運作情形與稽核主管對其單位規模未來變動的看法。本研究發現： 1.內部稽核之功能對稽核單位規模有正向顯著的影響，顯示我國上市櫃公司係依據其內部稽核功能之強弱，以決定其稽核單位的規模。 2.內部稽核功能的影響因素係以機構的內在管理因素為主，包括治理單位的重視與要求、公司之資訊透明度以及組織內其他部門的配合，而內部稽核的相關法令規範亦為影響稽核功能的因素之一。 3.上市櫃公司稽核單位的規模在近三年來大多為持平的狀態，而目前的員工人數，仍以1至2人的小規模單位為主。我國稽核單位普遍面臨人力不足的情況，主要原因為機構所設定的內部稽核功能超過稽核單位的人力，以及缺乏特定專長的人員。目前稽核單位多採取減少低風險項目的稽核、提昇稽核效率與加班等方式，以因應人力不足之限制。 4.非金融業稽核主管，其大多認為未來稽核單位規模將持平；而金融業稽核主管則有近半數認為其單位規模會逐步增加，顯示金融業對於內部稽核單位的擴充較具信心。 / This purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that significantly influence the size of a firm’s internal audit department (IAD). This paper also reports the status of IAD operations and chief audit executives’ (CAEs) opinions regarding the possible change in size of their departments. A research questionnaire was sent to the CAEs of listed companies in Taiwan to collect data for empirical analysis. The main conclusions of this study are as follows. 1.Internal audit functions positively influence the size of IAD. Most organizations determine the size of their IADs in accordance with their expected functions of internal audit. 2.There are four factors affecting the functions of internal audit, namely, the board of directors’ emphasis on internal audit, corporate information transparency, other departments` cooperation and coordination with IAD, and the laws and regulations on internal audit. 3.The size of IAD remains stable for the past three years. The size of IAD is very small. For most IADs, there are only 1 to 2 auditors, and lots of IADs are experiencing shortage in manpower. The shortage is mostly due to the board’s expectation of IAD exceeds the current capability of IAD and its lack of specialty personnel. To overcome the constraint in manpower, most IADs decrease the audit of low-risk items, increase audit efficiency and/or work overtime. 4.Most CAEs believe that the size of their IADs will not change significantly in the near future. However, the CAEs in the banking industry generally believe that the size of their IADs will increase gradually.

My thesis is divided into two main parts, such as the theoretical and practical part. In theoretical part, I describe brief history of Internal Audit with the special interest on the Czech Republic and Sweden. I mention these two countries as the headquarters of Skanska are found in Sweden and it has a long developed tradition. Then, I concentrate more on IA organization and procedures, IA standards and code of ethics. Furthermore, I concentrate on the methodology used in IA. In practical part, I focus more on a description of IA process at Skanska. I describe the practical background of this company and later on, I have mentioned two practical cases targeted on audit of one loss project and audit of processes such as Accounts payable and Accounts receivable.

The master thesis deals with proving benefits of the use of data analysis within internal audit on the example of a concrete audit of procurement cards of company Zebra Technologies. In theoretical part are described the basic theoretical starting points concerning the internal audit methodology. The practical part includes a description of the selected analysis executed during the examined audit.

The role of internal audit has changed during the past few years. Today, internal auditors are central players in organizations’ corporate governance structure. However, previous studies show that there is a gap between internal auditors’ own perception of their role compared to their stakeholders’. The wide scope of internal auditors’ role risks placing internal auditors in a situation of conflict, where consulting services threaten their provision of assurance services. In order to provide clarification to the role, this thesis studies how internal auditors become comfortable in their role, as both assurance and consulting providers and what concerns internal auditors face in their work. In order to fulfill the aim following research question is asked: How do internal auditors become comfortable in their role within risk management? Ten internal auditors were interviewed in order to make a contribution in the field of internal audit. The findings suggest that both assurance and consulting services are needed in order for internal auditors to feel they add value to the organization and hence, become comfortable in their role. Internal auditors’ comfort is many times dependent on fulfilling their stakeholders’ needs, however, staying in the scope of their role was shown to be more important.

The author examined whether contextual variables impact internal auditors' self-assessed likelihood of whistleblowing. The author synthesized a theoretical framework and developed research hypotheses that predict relationships between the self-assessed likelihood of whistleblowing and (1) magnitude of the consequences (2) channels of communication and (3) type of wrongdoing. To test these hypotheses, the author provided internal auditors (n=123) with a scenario and asked them to self-assess the likelihood of reporting evidence of a malfacation to their internal audit director even though their audit manager told them to ignore the wrongdoing.

This study examines the effects of reputation threats and anonymous whistle-blowing channels on Chief Audit Executives’ (CAEs) decisions to investigate whistle-blowing allegations. Participants were 94 CAEs and Deputy CAEs from publicly traded companies in the eastern half of the United States. Participants received whistle-blowing reports from either an anonymous or a non-anonymous source. In the high reputation threat condition the whistle-blowing report alleged that the wrongdoing was perpetrated by the exploitation of substantial weaknesses in internal controls that had been previously evaluated by external auditors and the internal audit function. The report in the lower threat condition alleged that the wrongdoing was accomplished by the circumvention of internal controls. Findings show that CAEs found anonymous whistle-blowing reports to be significantly less credible than non-anonymous reports. Although CAEs assessed lower credibility ratings for the reports alleging wrongdoing by the exploitation of substantial weaknesses in internal controls, they perceived greater personal and departmental responsibility in this condition. CAEs did not, however, perceive a significant reputation threat in either the Exploitation or Circumvention condition. Regardless of report source credibility, perceived reputation threat, or felt responsibility, CAEs’ resource allocation decisions consistently demonstrated a determination to thoroughly investigate the allegations of wrongdoing and uncover the truth.

This study examines the effects of using the internal audit function as a training ground for management and fraud magnitude on internal auditor fraud reporting decisions. Using a 2x2 between-participants experiment, the current study manipulates the use of the internal audit function as a management training ground (used as a training ground vs. not used as a training ground) and fraud magnitude (large fraud, defined as 30 percent of net income vs. small fraud, defined as one percent of net income). The results indicate that internal auditors may be less likely to report a fraud to their superior when the internal auditors are being groomed for management positions. No effect is found for fraud magnitude, as respondents indicated a similar willingness to report small frauds as large frauds. These findings contribute to the whistleblowing literature and the internal audit objectivity literature by demonstrating that undesirable repercussions associated with using the internal audit function as a management training ground can extend to the internal auditor fraud reporting decision.

The thesis focuses on the area of the internal audit in public administratition in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part deals with the audit, the definitions and its development. Furthemore, the code of Ethics, Standards and the system for Public Internal Financial Control (PIFC) are introduced. The main objective of the thesis is to provide a comprehensive picture of the internal audit of the Regional Office of South Bohemian region. The practical part includes the position of the internal audit, its activities in the above mentioned Office of public administration. On one specific example are shown the particular stages of auditing.

This thesis has two (2) broad objectives. The first objective is to test the impact of audit committee and internal audit (IA) function characteristics on IA contribution to the financial statement audit. The second objective is to investigate whether a negative association exists between IA contribution to the financial statement audit and audit fees. The study is conducted in a Malaysian context and focuses on the perspectives of internal auditors. There are a number of motivations for the study. In particular, previous studies have not addressed the need for a better understanding of how corporate governance mechanisms such as audit committee and IA unit attributes may affect IA contribution to the financial statement audit. Also, the results of prior studies on the link between IA contribution to the financial statement audit and audit fees are mixed and inconclusive. Furthermore, there is limited empirical evidence in this area from emerging economy countries, with relatively less developed capital markets such as Malaysia. The underlying theme throughout this thesis is that corporate governance mechanisms i.e., audit committee and IA characteristics have the potential to affect the efficiency of the IA unit thus leading to greater contribution of IA to financial statement audits. Specifically, the thesis argues that certain characteristics of audit committees such as the independence of audit committee members from the management, audit committee members' experience and knowledge in accounting, auditing and finance and their level of interactions with the chief internal auditor have the potential to increase the contribution of IA work to financial statement audits. Likewise, it is also postulated that characteristics of the IA function such as their size and prior experience of their staff in auditing are likely to improve the level of efficiency and hence, encourage greater contribution of IA to the external audit work. Finally, due to the saturation of the audit services market coupled with significant competition among public accounting firms, it is also predicted that the contribution of IA work is increasingly viewed as a potential means of improving external audit efficiency (i.e. by reducing time and effort), leading to lower audit fees. Seven (7) hypotheses are tested in this study based on Malaysian data during 2003. Data collection adopted a multi approach with three (3) key sources of data: a questionnaires survey, in-depth interviews and publicly available data from annual reports. The data collection process involved a mail survey addressed to the chief internal auditors of companies listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) Main Board. Five-hundred and two questionnaires (502) were mailed and a total of 101 (20.03%) responses were returned, of which 76 (17.9%) were useable. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 chief internal auditors selected from various industries which were also listed on the KLSE Main Board. Finally, publicly available data from annual reports were utilized. The study makes a number of contributions. First, it provides empirical evidence on the impact of audit committee characteristics on IA contribution to financial statement audits. In particular, the study supports a positive relationship between IA contribution to the financial statement audit and three (3) dimensions of audit committee characteristics namely the proportion of independent audit committee members, the extent of audit committee members' experience and knowledge in auditing, accounting and finance, and the frequency of meetings between the chief internal auditor and the audit committee. This suggests that a high proportion of independent audit committee members with experience and knowledge in accounting, auditing and finance is able to enhance the efficacy of the IA function and thus, encourages external auditors to rely more on the IA function. The results support the earlier predictions that more frequent meetings conducted between audit committees and the chief internal auditor leads to higher extent of IA contribution to the financial statement audit. Further, findings of this study also provides support for the positive relationship between the characteristics of the IA function, namely the size of the IA function and the proportion of staff with prior experience in auditing and IA contribution to the financial statement audit. The results suggest that internal auditors contribute more to the financial statement audit when the size of the IA function is larger and when the proportion of IA staff with prior experience in auditing is higher. Finally, the second model tests for a negative relationship between IA contribution to the financial statement audit and audit fees. However, the results did not yield a significant relationship between these two variables. Further clarifications for this result were derived from the interviews with the chief internal auditors. Specifically, it appears that any saving in time and effort due to the contribution of IA to financial statement audits may possibly be used by external auditors to expand their investigations into other more complex areas that require greater attention from them. Other findings from the interviews also suggest that audit committees play an important role as communication facilitators between the IA staff and management, especially by providing a candid forum for IA staff to express their opinions as well as supporting IA staff's recommendations based on their findings during audit investigations. Further, the leadership role of the audit committee also tends to assist the internal auditors to better communicate with management and to ensure that management will act upon the internal auditor's recommendations. In conclusion, the findings may have some implications for regulators and others concerned with establishing guidelines and listing rules pertaining to audit committee effectiveness especially in developing countries. Furthermore, this study also contributes to the literature on how an IA unit's resourcing has implications for IA contribution to the financial statement audit. While the current professional standards (i.e., ISA 610, SAS 65, and AUS 604) view IA as a substitute for external audit, such professional standards also require external auditors to evaluate the quality of IA unit before relying on the work of IA or accept the contribution of IA to the financial statement audit. As such, this study provides evidence on the potential impact that audit committees and IA units may have on such contribution of IA to the financial statement audit.

Purpose: the purpose of the thesis is to find out how Lithuanian commercial banks position their internal audit function within their organizational structure to overcome the tension of working with the management and keeping the distance to be able to report on them at the same time; and is internal audit function considered as one of the cornerstones of corporate governance. Moreover, comparison of banks is made to inspect any patterns, differences and similarities concerning the origin of the capital. Method: to answer the research question a qualitative approach was chosen: analysis of audited financial reports in the period of 2008-2011, organizational statutes and all available public information in 7 Lithuanian commercial banks is performed. Moreover email-interviews were held with all chief internal auditors. Findings: the internal audit function in Lithuanian commercial banks is not considered as one of the cornerstones of corporate governance – the function only participates in the corporate governance through the audit committee. Threats for independence are mitigated by giving the responsibility to the audit committee to appoint and dismiss the chief internal auditor and to approve the annual audit plan; and by composing the audit committee with at least one financial expert. Moreover, there is no clear pattern or distinction between internal audit positioning in foreign-capital and Lithuanian- capital banks. Concluding remarks: the need for improved controls is a very important issue in the public debate. The position that internal auditors are put in nowadays is very challenging – internal auditors are expected to provide both assurance and consulting services and maintain their independence at the same time – and organizations handle it differently.