THE ROLE OF ELECTRONIC OPERATION OF FINANCIAL AND ACCOUNTING DATA IN ENHANCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNAL AUDITING

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the impact of the electronic operation of financial and accounting data on the efficiency of internal auditing. A sample of experienced and specialized auditors from the University of Maysan, the Engineering Technical College in Maysan, and the Technical Institute of Amara participated in the study. The researchers utilized descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze the data collected from 215 survey questionnaires. The study used a cross-sectional research design, a quantitative research methodology, and the Partial Least Square (PLS)-Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) techniques. The PLS-SEM results indicate that the electronic operation of financial and accounting data is significantly and favorably correlated with the internal audit effectiveness of the sampled institutions. Based on these findings, this pioneering study contributed a body of literature to the existing literature that could aid future research by extending this framework. The study also made several recommendations, the most significant of which is that the internal audit of the institutions in question should pay more attention to creating the human and material requirements for the electronic operation of financial and accounting data, as well as providing the appropriate environment for maintaining efficient elements to ensure the integrity of the data.