An Evaluation Of The Audit Committees In Four Selected Government Ministries In Namibia

Abstract

This study evaluated audit committees in the government ministries in Namibia by

assessing their composition, function and regulations governing them. The study used

the qualitative method. A purposive sampling method was used as the researcher

selected ministries with audit committees. Thematic and content analysis was used in

this study. The researcher used primary and secondary data. On primary data, interviews

were conducted and recorded with a voice recorder. Secondary data were used to review

the existing literature.

The study found that from the 4 government ministries with audit committees, only one

ministry consisted of independent members as well as an independent chairperson. The

other 3 ministries are chaired by members within their organisation. The 2 ministries are

chaired by the Permanent Secretary and one by a medical doctor and 1 ministry is

chaired by an outsider. This is contrary to the best practice, which requires that the

chairperson of the audit committee should be an independent member as well as the

members of the audit committee. The majority of the audit committee members should

preferably be non-executive directors