Effectiveness of Internal Auditor in Controlling Fraud and Other Financial Irregularities in Private Universities in South-West, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study examined the effectiveness of internal auditor in controlling fraud and other financial irregularities in private universities in Southwest, Nigeria. It has is specific objective as to evaluate the relevance of internal audit report in exposing various form of financial related institutional fraud. The population of the study consist of all private universities in Southwest, Nigeria and purposive sampling was adopted to choose the sampled universities. The data for the study was collected through the use of structured questionnaire. Regression analysis techniques was adopted to test the formulated hypotheses and results shows that internal auditors were effective in controlling fraud and other financial irregularities in private universities in Southwest, Nigeria. Since f-calculated value of 85.355 was greater than the f-tabulated value of 5.320, it also shows that auditor reports were relevant in exposing various means of financial related frauds since F-calculated of 18.794 was 66greater than F-tabulated of 5.990 The study conclude that internal auditor is effective in exposing frauds in private universities in Nigeria if the structural compositions of the university allow them to do their work. The study recommended internal control involve the check and balances, both operational and financial, should be employed by the management of every university, to ensure that the university’s assets are safeguarded, of which cash is one.

Keywords: Internal Audit, Fraud, Financial Statement, Financial irregularities, Internal control system, Auditor’s report