ترجمه مقاله درباره‌ نقش فعالانه حسابرسان داخلی در بررسی های انطباقی ضد پول شویی - نشریه SSRN

The banking sector is crucial to any financial sector's stability and prosperous. But Money laundering (ML) threatens such stability through its vicious consequences. Thus, the need for a solid and rigorous AML programs emerged. In the light of the drastic evolution of the business environment over the last decades to rely heavily on information technology (IT), The new role for internal auditors (IAs) needed to convoy such evolution by advancing from traditional and reactive role to a more proactive and strategic role. No study has closely investigated the impact of IAs involvement in IT governance on IAs effectiveness in AML compliance review. A survey was developed based on the prior literature and was administered IAs in the Egyptian Banking sector. In all, 39 usable questionnaires were received. Smart partial least square was used to analyse the responses, the results indicated that IAs involvement in IT governance structures and relational capabilities significantly affected the IAs effectiveness. But IT involvement in processes was found to be insignificant. The overall results should be useful to banks in general, seeking to utilize the IAs to the full their aptitude in combating ML through improving the IAs effectiveness in AML compliance review.

1. Introduction

Money Laundering (ML) has been announced to be a major priority to fight against by the international community; this is mainly due to its destructive consequences on the integrity and stability of the financial sector and economy. ML is the process by which the source of assets (usually cash) is concealed to obscure the link between the funds and the original criminal activity (International Monetary Fund 2016). The Banking sector is the gatekeeper of any financial system and thus, is more vulnerable to ML and many other fraudulent activities. At the same time, almost all banks use intelligent systems to track and report any suspicious activity, such systems need certain controls because failure of handling them produces higher systematic risk. Thus, stronger internal controls are required to prevent ML. According to Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), an efficient internal audit independently and objectively evaluates the effectiveness of banks' controls, risk management and governance processes (Basel Institute of Governance 2016). The BCBS requires banks to have internal audit function (IAF) with sufficient authority, stature, independence and resources. Thus, the involvement of IAs in IT governance creates new opportunities in the Banking sector to fight ML and assess such risk.

6. Limitations and Further Research

This research aimed at investigating the impact of IA involvement in IT governance on IA effectiveness in AML compliance review. This involvement needs to be extended beyond IT governance and to cover other aspects of corporate governance. In addition, IA effectiveness was measured only by 8 items; those indicators can be prolonged in further research. Also, this research sample was affected by the number of qualified respondents imposing a great limitation to the study. Future research can uncover other determinants of IA involvement in IT governance. Furthermore, a cross regional comparative study could also be conducted to compare between IA involvements in IT governance across different regions.