Internal audit in the federal government organizations of Malaysia: The good, the bad and the very ugly?

Theoretically, the internal audit function exists to help members of an organization to improve the performance of their activities. But the findings from in-depth interviews conducted in the middle of 2004 with internal auditors from a total of 40 federal government ministries, departments and agen...

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Main Authors: Md Ali, Azham, Saidin, Siti Zabedah, Sahdan, Mohd Hadafi, Harun Rasit, Mohd Hadzrami, Rahim, Mohd Syahrir, Gloeck, J. Dieter
Format: Article
Published: 2012
Subjects:
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author Md Ali, Azham
Saidin, Siti Zabedah
Sahdan, Mohd Hadafi
Harun Rasit, Mohd Hadzrami
Rahim, Mohd Syahrir
Gloeck, J. Dieter
author_facet Md Ali, Azham
Saidin, Siti Zabedah
Sahdan, Mohd Hadafi
Harun Rasit, Mohd Hadzrami
Rahim, Mohd Syahrir
Gloeck, J. Dieter
author_sort Md Ali, Azham
collection UUM
description Theoretically, the internal audit function exists to help members of an organization to improve the performance of their activities. But the findings from in-depth interviews conducted in the middle of 2004 with internal auditors from a total of 40 federal government ministries, departments and agencies in Malaysia revealed a number of serious shortcomings that far outweigh the few virtues identified during these interviews. These shortcomings are that many internal audit units face staff shortages, and staff lacking in internal audit competence.In addition, a majority of the audit units, most of which operate in outdated audit modes, have failed to get the right level of support and assistance from the Treasury and other parties.Worse, their effectiveness and efficiency are further threatened by the high-handed actions of the National Audit Department which shifts its cadre staff in and out of the internal audit units at will.Despite all these problems, these internal auditors are quite optimistic about the future of internal audit in Malaysia.But, according to the politics of accountability theory and the fact that Malaysian social context is replete with cases of the lack of transparency and public accountability from its major actors, the internal audit’s future does appear bleak.
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spelling uum-181182016-06-15T08:32:56Z https://repo.uum.edu.my/id/eprint/18118/ Internal audit in the federal government organizations of Malaysia: The good, the bad and the very ugly? Md Ali, Azham Saidin, Siti Zabedah Sahdan, Mohd Hadafi Harun Rasit, Mohd Hadzrami Rahim, Mohd Syahrir Gloeck, J. Dieter HF5601 Accounting Theoretically, the internal audit function exists to help members of an organization to improve the performance of their activities. But the findings from in-depth interviews conducted in the middle of 2004 with internal auditors from a total of 40 federal government ministries, departments and agencies in Malaysia revealed a number of serious shortcomings that far outweigh the few virtues identified during these interviews. These shortcomings are that many internal audit units face staff shortages, and staff lacking in internal audit competence.In addition, a majority of the audit units, most of which operate in outdated audit modes, have failed to get the right level of support and assistance from the Treasury and other parties.Worse, their effectiveness and efficiency are further threatened by the high-handed actions of the National Audit Department which shifts its cadre staff in and out of the internal audit units at will.Despite all these problems, these internal auditors are quite optimistic about the future of internal audit in Malaysia.But, according to the politics of accountability theory and the fact that Malaysian social context is replete with cases of the lack of transparency and public accountability from its major actors, the internal audit’s future does appear bleak. 2012 Article PeerReviewed Md Ali, Azham and Saidin, Siti Zabedah and Sahdan, Mohd Hadafi and Harun Rasit, Mohd Hadzrami and Rahim, Mohd Syahrir and Gloeck, J. Dieter (2012) Internal audit in the federal government organizations of Malaysia: The good, the bad and the very ugly? IAMURE International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 3 (1). ISSN 2243-8327 http://doi.org/10.7718/iamure.v3i1.73 doi:10.7718/iamure.v3i1.73 doi:10.7718/iamure.v3i1.73
spellingShingle HF5601 Accounting
Md Ali, Azham
Saidin, Siti Zabedah
Sahdan, Mohd Hadafi
Harun Rasit, Mohd Hadzrami
Rahim, Mohd Syahrir
Gloeck, J. Dieter
Internal audit in the federal government organizations of Malaysia: The good, the bad and the very ugly?
title Internal audit in the federal government organizations of Malaysia: The good, the bad and the very ugly?
title_full Internal audit in the federal government organizations of Malaysia: The good, the bad and the very ugly?
title_fullStr Internal audit in the federal government organizations of Malaysia: The good, the bad and the very ugly?
title_full_unstemmed Internal audit in the federal government organizations of Malaysia: The good, the bad and the very ugly?
title_short Internal audit in the federal government organizations of Malaysia: The good, the bad and the very ugly?
title_sort internal audit in the federal government organizations of malaysia the good the bad and the very ugly
topic HF5601 Accounting
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