Factors affecting the internal audit effectiveness : a survey of the polish private and public sectors

Recently the attention of the scientific community focuses on internal audit and its role in the organization. Previous studies have shown that internal audit does not always achieve their goals, that is why this study sought to understand the factors that affect internal audit effectiveness. Based on the survey from 342 organizations in Poland it was found that the internal audit effectiveness is affected by: (1) the characteristics of the internal audit, (2) audit activity, and (3) inter-organizational relationships. The effectiveness increases when the age of the internal audit grows, performing audit engagements is regularly monitored, the results of measuring the audit performance and self-assessment are employed for introducing changes, audit committee indicates significant risks and sets priorities for the annual and strategic audit plans, and commissioned audits do not exceed 20% of the work of the internal audit.