Barriers and Catalysts to Effective Internal Audit in the Ghanaian Public Sector

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to investigate the role of the internal audit function in the public sector entities in Ghana and the factors limiting the effectiveness of internal audit in the sector.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The study collected the data from 120 internal auditors in 40 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) through a self-administered questionnaire. A semi-structured interview with a senior manager of the Internal Audit Agency, the oversight body was also carried out as a follow up.

Findings – The scope of internal audit services in the sector is limited to regular audit activities, mainly pre-audit of payment vouchers which take estimated 74% of the average productive audit time. The effectiveness of internal audit in the Ghanaian public sector is hampered by several factors: low professional proficiency of internal auditors; lack of management ownership and support for internal audit activities, lack of budget authority of the internal audit units and weak functioning of audit committees, among others. Some remedial programmes are ongoing.

Research limitations – Inherent in the study result is the limitation associated with non-probability sampling methods because of the use of purposive sampling technique to select the internal auditors and the organisations.

Practical implication – The result of the study may have policy implication for government in the design of programmes for improving the effectiveness of internal audit as an element of public financial management reforms.

Originality/Value – Despite several studies on internal audit effectiveness in the public sector organisations, none relates to Ghana. This study fills the gap.