The role of internal auditors in unearthing fraud in local authorities. A case of the City of Harare (2016-2018) · Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author

Shylet P Chamunorwa

Title

The role of internal auditors in unearthing fraud in local authorities. A case of the City of Harare (2016-2018)

Abstract

This study’s major purpose was to evaluate the role of internal auditors in unearthing fraud in local authorities a case study of Harare City Council. Fraud cases have been prevalent at Harare City Council in recent years despite auditor’s presence. The study was guided by the following objectives, to identify types of fraud being committed at Harare City Council, to establish whether there is auditor's independence in performing their duties at Harare City Council, to explore the effects and consequences of fraud at Harare City Council., to explore the responsibility of internal auditors in the prevention and detection of fraud at Harare City Council, to identify possible solutions and make recommendations to reduce fraud incidences at Harare City Council. The targeted
population of the study was 50 which comprised of internal auditors. audit committee, other staff, and senior management. The sampling technique that was used to carry out this research is stratified random sampling with a sample size of 25 employees. Structured questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data, and the researcher personally distributed the questionnaires. All returned questionnaires were checked for completeness and interviewing quality as a way of analysing quantitative data. Qualitative data was presented in text form and then analysed. Quantitative statistics such as frequency distributions and percentages was used to analyse data and results were presented using graphs and
tables. The study showed that the internal audit system ls effective in unearthing fraud at Harare City Council. Results of the study shows that cases of bribery failed to be detected by internal auditors hence the ineffectiveness of internal auditors however, cases of point-of-sale fraud detected by auditors hence the effectiveness of the internal auditors. The study recommended that Harare City Council should reduce the workload on employees, improve its auditors'
independence, segregate duties, and increase education of the internal auditors. The research concluded that the internal audit system at Harare city council needs to be improved, following the recommendations of this study The results of the study can also be used by other councils, academician, and the researchers as a source of knowledge. As for future research, it was suggested that they focus on the impact of reduction of workload on employees and segregation of duties to large firms.

Date

2019

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

Auditors

Fraud

Supervisor

N/A