Audit committee – internal audit interaction and moral courage

TY - JOUR

T1 - Audit committee – internal audit interaction and moral courage

AU - Khelil, Imen

AU - Hussainey, Khaled

AU - Noubbigh, Hedi

N1 - EMBARGO 18 MTHS This article is ©Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here http://eprints.port.ac.uk. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

PY - 2016/4/4

Y1 - 2016/4/4

N2 - Purpose – This paper aims to offer empirical evidence about the effect of the interaction between the audit committee and the internal audit function (IAF) on the moral courage of the chief audit executive (CAE). Design/methodology/approach – A mixed approach was followed. In the first stage, questionnaires were sent to CAEs of 60 listed, financial and non-financial Tunisian companies. To enhance the depth of the analysis, in the second stage, semi-directed interviews with 22 CAEs from listed financial and non-financial Tunisian companies were performed. Findings – This paper found that the existence of private access to the audit committee has a positive effect on the moral courage of the CAE. The number of meetings between the audit committee and the CAE, the examination of internal audit programmes and results together with the contribution of the audit committee to the appointment and dismissal of the CAE do not show a significant link with the moral courage of the CAE. It also found an insignificant relationship between the audit committee’s examination of interaction between management and the IAF and the moral courage of the CAE. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper fills one of the major research gaps in the auditing literature by demonstrating the critical role of audit committee–internal audit interaction in promoting the CAE’s moral courage to behave ethically.

AB - Purpose – This paper aims to offer empirical evidence about the effect of the interaction between the audit committee and the internal audit function (IAF) on the moral courage of the chief audit executive (CAE). Design/methodology/approach – A mixed approach was followed. In the first stage, questionnaires were sent to CAEs of 60 listed, financial and non-financial Tunisian companies. To enhance the depth of the analysis, in the second stage, semi-directed interviews with 22 CAEs from listed financial and non-financial Tunisian companies were performed. Findings – This paper found that the existence of private access to the audit committee has a positive effect on the moral courage of the CAE. The number of meetings between the audit committee and the CAE, the examination of internal audit programmes and results together with the contribution of the audit committee to the appointment and dismissal of the CAE do not show a significant link with the moral courage of the CAE. It also found an insignificant relationship between the audit committee’s examination of interaction between management and the IAF and the moral courage of the CAE. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper fills one of the major research gaps in the auditing literature by demonstrating the critical role of audit committee–internal audit interaction in promoting the CAE’s moral courage to behave ethically.

KW - Tunisia

KW - professional ethics

KW - audit committee–internal audit interaction

KW - chief audit executive

KW - moral courage

U2 - 10.1108/MAJ-06-2015-1205

DO - 10.1108/MAJ-06-2015-1205

M3 - Article

VL - 31

SP - 403

EP - 433

JO - Managerial Auditing Journal

JF - Managerial Auditing Journal

SN - 0268-6902

IS - 4/5

ER -