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The role of internal auditors with specific reference to fraud investigation

The role of internal auditors is evolving to enable them to provide stakeholders with assurance and to assist organisations to achieve objectives and remain competitive to ensure the future existence of their organisations. The research for this study was guided by the question of whether the Institute of Internal Auditors guidance pronouncements provide sufficient guidance in the light of expectations of both the institute and management (stakeholders) relating to the role of internal auditors in respect of fraud investigation. Literature reviewed on the role of internal auditors showed that there is limited guidance provided with regards to fraud investigation, knowledge and skills required by an internal auditor to perform fraud investigations. The research methodology used for this study consisted of a qualitative case study of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University committees, namely, Council, Senate and MANCO as well as a combination of deductive and inductive interpretative analysis methods. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain data from participants who were randomly selected from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Council, Senate and MANCO committees. The interviews revolved around three themes, namely, the role of internal audit, the information expected from internal audits and the role that the internal audit plays with regard to fraud. The interviews were recorded by means of a digital voice recorder which were transcribed by a qualified transcriber. The collected data was then manually coded by making use of standardised coding methods to assist with the analyses of the data. After considering the participant responses in relation to the themes, it could be deduced that a greater awareness needed to be created regarding the role of the internal audit and the services which internal audits could provide to organisations and management structures. The results of the analyses revealed that an expectation gap existed with regard to the Institute of Internal Auditors, guidance pronouncements and stakeholder expectations of internal auditor roles with specific reference to fraud investigations. This study showed that the IIA’s guidance pronouncements do not provide sufficient and adequate guidance in respect of the knowledge, skills and competency capabilities in relation to fraud investigations.The results of the study further showed that the expected role of internal auditors in an organisation should include fraud investigations.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:8947
Date January 2015
CreatorsLabuschagne, Mario
PublisherNelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis, Masters, MCom
Formatxii, 226 leaves, pdf
RightsNelson Mandela Metropolitan University

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