The Impact Of Internal Controls In Enhancing Efficiency Of Internal Audit In Narok County Referral Hospital

Abstract

A research study to investigate the impact of internal auditors in facilitating effectiveness of internal control systems in Narok County Referral hospital was carried out. The study had three key objectives; to establish the internal control systems adopted by internal auditors at Narok County Referral hospital, to establish relationship between internal auditing and internal Control systems and to identify the challenges faced by internal audit in facilitating effectiveness of internal control systems in Narok County Referral hospital. The research design involved a descriptive survey design of 35 employees at the Narok County Referral hospital. Data was collected using a questionnaire that was administered through drop and pick method. Descriptive Statistics were used to analyze objective one and three while regression analysis was used to analyze objective two, whereas regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between internal auditing and internal Control systems. The findings from regression established that the control environment, risk assessment, information and communication system, control activities and monitoring of the variance in efficiency in internal audit. The findings revealed that the hospital had an information and communication as one of the functionality of internal controls of the organization that greatly impacts on the efficiency of internal audit of the organization. It was also established that the hospital management had put in place mechanisms for mitigation of critical risks that may result from fraud. The study examined the effect of control activities on the financial performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The statistical results from the regression analysis show that there is a positive relationship between internal control and efficiency of internal audit of the hospital. The internal controls variables contributed to 87.6 of the variation in efficiency of internal audit as explained by adjusted R2 of 0.876% which shows that the model is statistically good in prediction. It was concluded that organization that had invested on effective internal control systems had more efficiency internal audit as compared to those organizations that had a weak internal control system. The limitation of this study is that the study was focused on one organization while we have more organization of the same hence these findings may not be used for generalization in all organizations. It is therefore important for a study to be conducted using wider scope and coverage then, the findings can be compared and conclusions drawn.