Abstract:
Corporate governance, as an antidote to corruption, has received
significant public and regulators attention in today’s global world and the internal
audit has been identified as the most effective control mechanism to ensure good
corporate governance in the public sector. This study, therefore, investigated into
the effectiveness of the internal audit units in the public sector in promoting good
corporate governance. It reviewed history of internal audit, corporate governance,
internal control and factors that contribute to the effectiveness of internal audit.
Descriptive research method was employed. Simple random sampling and census
procedures were used to obtain data from 29 internal auditors and 9 branch heads
of Ghana Audit Service in the Northern region of Ghana. Statistical tools used
were mean and percentage. The study revealed that the internal auditors receive
less management support and the audit committees in the assemblies are not
effective. It is also evident that majority of the internal auditors did not have
requisite skills and experience. The units also experienced inadequate resources
allocation. This suggests that the internal audit units in the assemblies are not
effective
Therefore, to ensure good corporate governance, the internal audit units
should have appropriate governance structure, sufficient and appropriate
resources and competent personnel.
