Research Proposal for Internal Auditor Essay

Introduction The responsibility of the internal audit is to serve the Ministry of Justice in a manner that is consistent with the Financial Administration and Audit Act, Standards for the Professional Practise of Internal Auditing and with professional standards of conduct. This activity has the potential to provide hitherto unparallel services to management in the conduct of their duties. Background of Study The government of Jamaica established the Internal Auditing Agency as a means of strengthening accountability and reinforcing trust and confidence in financial reporting for public sector institutions. These audits help enhance economic prosperity, expanding the variety, number and value of transactions by means of written reports or consultations to prepare persons who are entering into transactions. (Institute of Chartered Accountants 2005) The value of an Internal Auditor lies in how well he/she is able to contribute to the overall achievement of the organisations objectives. The auditor should always strive to make himself relevantto the ogranisations using the proper methods of providing information to that will allow management make decisions that will impact the organization positively on their ability to achieve organisational goals. However according to the reports made by the Auditor General of Jamaica (2005) audits have been restrictive in terms of scope with the lack of technology in aiding auditor and fraud. This needs to be addressed if the required return on investment in the Internal Audit is to be attained. Problem Statement The Internal Audit Agency (2006) believes that the importance of internal audit is analytically obscure. This belief plagues the importance of an internal audit as a key function that can strengthen the oversight responsibility of the governing body and this attitude reflects management’s view on auditors. To sum it up, Public Sector agencies discredit auditors, The Internal Audit functions in the Jamaican public sector faces a perception and credibility problem as auditors are seen as value adders or fault finders in the government rather than solution providers. Management Question: Why is it that public sector managers find the function of the Internal Audit Agency an inconvenience and what can be done to curb it? Research Questions: 1. Why is there a low support for Internal Audit by Public Sector Managers? 2. What steps should be put in place in order to get the support of management for Internal Auditing in the Public Sector? 3. Is there a comparison between the quality of service the Internal Auditor provides for his organisation and the attitude of managers towards the Internal Audit function? Hypothesis: The quality of service provided by the Internal Auditors for their organization is in no way related to the attitude of managers towards the function of the Internal Audit. Objectives: 1. Examine the factors that are responsible for the low support of the Internal Audit by managers of the Public Sector institution. 2. Identify specific actions required to secure support of managers for the Internal Audit 3. Establish the relationship between quality of service and support of managers for Internal Audit Significance of Study: The significance of the study will be to: 1. Introduce the Agency to the Jamaican public not as evaluators but future planners 2. Improve the public understanding of the Agency’s role in the government 3. To show that the agency aids organizations in achieving their goals and objectives. Methodology Areas covered in this section include : research design, population, sample and sampling techniques, data collection and analysis. Research Design: Â  The design will involve evaluating the role of the Internal Auditors in the governance of the organisations in the public sector. This research is designed to validate the objectives set out by the researcher. Population: The public sector of Jamaica is probably the largest employers of internal auditors. These institutions involve several organisations including ministries, departments and agencies (A). It also includes metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (B). The targeted population for the study would include: 1. Directors and managers 2. Financial officers, coordinating directors and staff 3. Staff and heads of the audit departments Sampling and Sampling Technique The researcher will adopt the survey type of research in which a sample from the target population will be used for the study. A total of 150 elements will be selected from a target population of 500. The details are as follows: * 20 directors and 5 managers * 30 coordinating directors and 15 financial officers * 60 staff members and 10 heads of the audit department In this research, the researcher will adopt a multistage stratified sampling method to select elements. -The population will be separated accordingly into (A) and (B), as shown above. -Elements in group (A) are the Ministries, Departments and Agencies -Elements in group (B) are the Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts. This separates them to allow the research information to be more coherent and shows that their operations are significantly different. Data Collection: The focus of this data collection is to show the attitudes and perception and the importance of primary data. Secondary data will also be collected to reinforce the data collected. The researcher will have to provide the Public sector institutions with an introductory letter explaining the reason for the research with proper identification and request consent. The initial visit to selected institutions would be to familiarize himself with those institutions and members within the institutions . Data Collection Instrument A questionnaire will be the instrument used in retrieving the Data. It would include structured questions segregated into 4 sections. ‘Section 1’, ‘Section 2’, ‘Section 3’, ‘Section 4’. * Section ‘1’ will consist of questions seeking to answer the first research question * Section ‘2’ will consist of questions seeking to answer the second research question * Section ‘3’ will consist of questions seeking to answer the third question * Section ‘4’ will consist of questions to test and validating the hypothesis Data Analysis The answered retrieved from the questionnaire will be graded in each section and a percentage will be formulated. Limitations The researcher may not be able to cover all the institutions over Jamaica. Institutions may not allow the researcher to conduct research on the organization. References * The Institute of Internal Auditors (the IIA). (2007), The Professional Practices Framework. Florida, U.S.: The IIA Research Foundation. * Institute of Internal Auditors (2010) Role of Internal Audit, South Africa * Cahmbers, R. Internal Auditor: Chambers on the Profession (2012) Dilemmas Every Internal Auditor Will Face, http://www.theiia.org/blogs/chambers/index.cfm/post/Five%20Dilemmas%20Every%20Internal%20Auditor%20Will%20Face * Ministry of Justice, http://www.moj.gov.jm/internal_audit * Auditor General’s Department of Jamaica, Annual Report 200, http://www.auditorgeneral.gov.jm/ Table of Contents Introduction 2 Background of Study 3 Problem Statements 4 Management question, Research Question and Hypothesis 4 Objectives and Significance of study 5 Methodology 6 Research Design and Population 6 Sampling and Sampling Technique 7 Data collection, Data Instrument, Data analysis and Limitations 8 References 9