Main Article Content
Abstract
The study analyzed the extent to which the internal auditing is practiced and its effectiveness in Ethiopian public higher education institutions. Very few prior studies used the output approaches as the proxy measures of internal audit effectiveness, i.e., auditees’ evaluations, added contribution, and audit quality. Structured questionnaires and semi-structured interview were used to collected data from the internal auditors of the sample public higher education institutions. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to identify the set of items that are strongly related to the factors. The mean scores of the variables were used to analyze the extent of the internal audit practice and effectiveness in Ethiopian public higher education institutions. The findings of this study revealed that the internal audit practices related to top management support and objectivity of internal auditors are little practiced and highly practiced, respectively, in Ethiopian public higher education institutions, but the internal audit practices related to organizational independence, adequate and competent internal auditors, internal audit charter, quality of audit work, and information technology are moderately practiced in Ethiopian public higher education institutions. Further, the findings of the study proved that the internal audit effectiveness in Ethiopian public higher education institutions from audit quality dimension is highly effective, but from the auditees’ evaluation dimension is moderately effective.