دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی نقش حسابرسی داخلی در مشارکت دولتی: یک تجزیه و تحلیل فوکولندی - امرالد 2017

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to articulate the conceptual foundations of the role of internal auditing in corporate governance by drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a literature-based analysis of the role of internal auditing from a Foucauldian perspective. Findings – It is argued that Foucault’s notion of governmentality provides conceptual tools for researching internal auditing as a disciplinary mechanism in the corporate governance setting of contemporary organizations. The paper develops an initial conceptual formulation of internal auditing as: ex post assurance about the execution of economic activities within management’s preconceived frameworks and ex ante advisory services to enhance the rationality of economic activities and accompanying controls. Research limitations/implications – The paper is expected to initiate debate on the choice of theory and method in internal auditing research. The propositions and research agenda discussed can be used to address research questions of an interpretive nature that could enrich the current understanding of internal auditing. Originality/value – This paper extends the Foucauldian analysis of accounting to incorporate internal auditing. It offers original propositions as a research agenda and discusses ontological and epistemic considerations associated with adopting the Foucauldian framework for internal auditing research.

Conclusion and research implications

This paper has attempted to establish the conceptual foundations of the role of internal auditing in corporate governance using, as an illustrative lens, the function’s role in assisting management in dealing with risk. It has argued that internal auditing can be conceptualized as providing: ex post assurance about the execution of economic activities within management’s preconceived frameworks and ex ante advisory services that enhance the rationality of economic activities and the accompanying controls of organizations. Nevertheless, both activities allow room for Esmark’s (in press) “regulatory game of freedom and security” that nevertheless tends toward increased security. This overall heuristic does not discount that variations in corporate governance practices across both countries (see e.g. Macdonald and Beattie, 1993) and companies can influence the power/knowledge dynamics of the governance setting. This discourse-specific and, thus, institution-specific understanding of the Foucauldian framework can be set against the tendency to view governmentality as an account of overarching power/knowledge, as cautioned against in our account of governmentality above and as explicitly rejected by Foucault (see, e.g. Foucault, 1991, p. 53). The way in which internal audit services are predominantly used may be influenced by key concerns and operating characteristics of the relevant governance framework.