Assessment of operational efficiency of internal audit of University of Education, Winneba

Abstract

This study aimed at assessing the operational efficiency of Internal Audit in University of Education, Winneba (UEW) with a spotlight on the legal apparatus governing the operations of Internal Auditors. A descriptive survey method was used to carry out this work. The data were collected using structured interviews and the administration of questionnaires to a sample size of 123 respondents who were stakeholders of UEW. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 software was used to analyze the data. The analysis revealed that; the Internal Auditors of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) were very much aware of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921) and its Regulations (LI 2387), Internal Audit Agency Act, 2003 (658), Internal Audit Manual for MMDA’s, the 2020 UEW Statutes and the Financial and Stores Regulation and that, the Internal Audit Agency Act 2003 is out of date. Secondly, UEW does not have a Risk Management Register to guide its operations and finally, there was inadequate budgetary allocation and professional staffing to enhance the cooperation between the Internal Audit and the governing agencies such as University Management, Audit Committee (AC), Internal Audit Agency (IAA) and Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC). It was therefore concluded that there were laws governing the operations of Internal Auditing, Risk Management Register needs to be developed whiles budgetary allocation, meeting schedules, and coordination between the Internal Audit and its governing agencies be improved. It was recommended that the Internal Audit Agency Act 2003 should be updated whiles the Public Financial Management Act 2016 should be reviewed to include the power or mandate to surcharge offenders for financial misappropriation and fraud by heads of Internal Audit. Also, the Internal Audit Office in the University should take a lead role in developing, and implementing the mitigation strategies stated in the Risk Management Register. Finally, enhanced budgetary allocation from the consolidated fund and the institution’s own Internally Generated Fund could cushion the Internal Audit and its governing agencies while exploring other avenues such as study leave, conferences, and training to strengthen the professional capacity of Staff. The study suggested that future research could focus on other sampling methods apart from the purposive sampling method used in this study and other theories such as Agency theory, Lending Credibility theory, etc. could be explored to assess the operational efficiency of Internal Auditors in various universities.