Internal Audit and Accountability of Public Funds in Local Government: A Case Study of Pallisa District Local Government

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION

APPROVAL

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS xi

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE 1

INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY 1

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Problem Statement 2

1.3 General Objective 2

1.4 Specific Objectives 2

1.5 Research Questions 3

1.6 Scope ofthe Study 3

1.6.1 Geographical AreaS 3

1.6.2 Content Scope 3

1.6.3 Period] Time scope 4

1.7 Significance of the Study 4

1.8 Operational Definitions 4

V

1.9 Conceptual frame work ~

CHAPTER TWO 6

LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.0 Introduction 6

2.1.0 The effect of Internal Auditor Competency ofPallisa District Local Government 6

2.1.1 Audit Quality 7

2.1.2 Accountability 7

2.1.3 Internal Audit Quality on Accountability 8

2.2 Effect of internal Auditors’ Independence of Pallisa District Local Government 8

2.3. Internal audit procedures performed on utilization of public funds 10

2.4 Relationship between Internal Audit and accountability in local government 10

2.5 Summary 12

CHAPTER THREE 13

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 13

3.0 Introduction 13

3.1 Research Design 13

3.2 Study Population 14

3.3 Sample Frame and sample size 14

3.3.1 Sample size 14

3.4 Sampling Technique is

3.5 Source of Data is

3.5.1 Primary Data 15

3.5.2 Secondary source 15

3.6 Data Collection Methods 16

3.6.1 Questionnaires 16

vi

3.6.2 Interviewing .16

3.7 Data Analysis and Management 16

3.8 Research Procedure 17

3.9 Ethical Consideration 17

CHAPTER FOUR 18

INTERPRETANTION AND PRESENTANTION OF FINDINGS 18

4.0 Introduction 18

4.1 Results and Discussions 18

4.1.1 Gender 18

4.1.2. Age of the Respondents 20

4.1.3 Education Level of the Respondents 21

4.2 Substantive Audit procedures 24

4.3 Internal Audit Independence 27

4.4 Professional Competence 29

4.5 Service Delivery 31

4.6 Relationship between internal Auditing and Accountability of public funds in Pallisa

District Local Government 32

4.7 The Relationship between the Study Variables 35

4.7.1 Internal auditing of public funds 36

4.8 Accountability of public funds 37

4.9 Regression Model 37

CHAPTER FIVE 40

SUMMARY OF STUDY FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 40

5.0 Introduction 40

5.1 Summary of the study findings according to objectives 40

VII

5.1.1 The audit substantive procedures used in internal auditing in Pallisa District Local

Government 40

5.1.2 Internal Audit Independence 40

5.1.3 Professional Competence 41

5.1.4 Service Delivery 41

5.1.5 The relationship between internal auditing and accountability of public funds in Pallisa

District Local Government 41

5.2 Conclusion 42

5.3 Recommendations 42

5.4 Limitations of the Study 43

5.5 Areas for Further Research 43

REFERENCES 44

APPENDICES 46

Appendix I: REQUEST FOR PERMISSION 46

Appendix II: QUESTIONNARE 47

Appendix III: IMPLEMENTATION BUDGET 55