Influence of Internal Audit System’s Practices on the Management of Public Funds in County Governments in Kenya: A case Study of Management of Public Funds in Kisii County

Abstract

County funds and revenues provide important resources to improve service delivery to the general public. The central government transfers 15% of the income tax revenues to 47 County Governments in Kenya. Despite the huge sums of money they receive, 77% of the counties are not able to meet their recurrent expenditures among other obligations indicating inadequate link between internal audit system’s practices and management of funds. This study assessed the influence of internal audit systems practices on the management of public funds in County Governments with particular interest in Kisii county Government. The objectives of the study were to establish the extent to which Use of Audit Committees, Materiality of Audited Activity, use of audit regulations and procedures, and Audit Standards as an internal audit system’s practices do influence the management of public funds in Kisii County Government. The study adopted a case study design. Target population was 124 respondents and the sample size was 62 respondents. The study findings indicated that use of audit committees (UAC) had r = 0.753 showing a strong association with management of public funds,  on application of audit committees the result  was statistically significant  ( p  0.000 < 0.05) their use caused upto 75.9%  towards effective management of public funds; Materiality of audited activity (MOAA) had the highest contribution to management of public funds (β = 0.531, p0.000 < 0.05); effect size to management of public funds (β = 0.620), the use of audit regulation and procedures (UARP) had a positive relationship (B= 0.137) and a positive effect size (standardized beta coefficient β = 0.378) but the results were statistically insignificant (p value of 0.136> 0.05);  the coefficient of multiple correlation  was positive and strong ( R = 0.837; R² = 0.701). The results were statistically significant (p 0.000 < 0.05) and that effective application of internal audit systems practices causes an increase in management of public funds. The study recommends for public institutions to adopt MOAA and UAC as the internal audit systems practices to improve on management of public funds for effective service delivery to the general public.

Keywords: audit control system practices, public funds, County Government, management