Throughout the world, there has been recognition of the role of an Internal Auditor in providing unmatched services to various institutions in their conduct of duties. According to the Institute of Internal Auditors (2007), it is the responsibility of the Internal Auditor to ensure his work is relevant to a given organization by providing information that enables an organization make decisions that helps them achieve their goals. Nonetheless, a survey by the Internal Audit Agency of Ghana (2006) found out that a majority of the activities of an Internal Auditor are very limiting in scope. This is a problem that should be addressed if return on investment on the activities of the Internal Auditor is to be achieved.
Problem Statement
The role of Internal Audit as a value addition unit of organizations has been faced with opposition, as well as a credibility problem from the Ghanaian public sector. According to the Internal Audit Agency (2006), the significance of an Internal Audit function is masked in obscurity; something which has kept on underplaying the value of Internal Audit in organizations. Most of the times, the budget allocation for Internal Auditors in various institutions in the Ghanaian public sector is barely enough, to enable them to perform their duties effectively. Internal Auditors have been viewed as fault finders as opposed to providers of solutions.
Get a price quote:
Objectives
The objectives of this research project will be:
- To determine the factors that cause the lack of support of the activity of Internal Auditors by managers in Ghanaian public institutions.
- Identify definite measures that are needed to secure the support of managers in the Ghanaian public institutions for Internal Auditors.
The methodology for this research will involve surveying a sample population of 150 elements which include; twenty Chief Directors, thirty Directors of Departments and Agencies (MDAs), twenty Coordinating Directors, twenty Finance Officers, twenty staff of Metropolitan, and forty Internal Auditors of MDAs. The selection of the elements will involve the use of a stratified sampling method (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2007). The significance of primary data cannot be ignored in this study since the research involves people’s perceptions and attitudes. Data collection will be done by administering questionnaires with twenty questions, both close-ended and those that require the opinions of the respondents.
The replies to the structured questionnaires will be rated in percentages. For each question, the percentages of the respondents will be given and analyzed. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) will be used to analyze the data collected.
It is expected that the outcomes of this study will help in unearthing the reasons for lack of support of Internal Auditors by managers in Ghanaian public institutions, and the possible measures to be taken to ensure that Internal auditors are supported and appreciated for their good work.
Since there are numerous institutions in the Ghanaian public sector, this study will not be able to cover all of them; hence my research will be limited to only five institutions.
