Assessment of sustainable development and knowledge of environmental management : Internal auditors' perspectives

Purpose – To examine whether there are differences with respect to internal auditors' attitude toward environmental protection, cognizance of environmental auditing and environmental knowledge. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey based research method is used and a Mann‐Whitney U ‐test as well as a T ‐test is applied on this data. Findings – There is no difference between internal auditors in the manufacturing industry and those in the service industry with respect to environmental awareness and cognizance of environmental auditing. Yet there is a significant difference with respect to knowledge of environmental protection. Research limitations/implications – This study is limited to that of internal auditors' perspectives. Practical implications – Internal auditors are the “watch dogs” for firms to implement environmental management so that strengthening their environmental knowledge is required. Originality/value – This study reveals internal auditors' perception toward environmental management in both high‐ and low‐pollution industries that go beyond green auditing issues.