“Factors Affecting Internal Audit Effectiveness: The Case Of Environment Protection Authority UNDP Funded Projects, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ’’

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to examine factors affecting internal audit effectiveness of environmental protection authority-UNDP funded projects in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The design of the research was both descriptive and explanatory type of research. There were thirteen projects being of the environmental protection authority funded by UNDP of which six of the have been the focus of this study which have audit department in their structure. Though the numbers of staffs in each project vary, the entire population was used in this study which includes project managers, internal auditors and other employees. Thus the study was a census study. Primary data was utilized in this study and questionnaire was used as data collection tool. For the statistical analysis purpose, SPSS was used as an analysis tool and both descriptive statistics such as means and standard deviation and OLS regression analysis were employed. Six variables have been identified as factors affecting the internal audit effectiveness of environmental protection authority-UNDP funded projects in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The findings of the study has revealed that internal audit quality and information technology have positive and statistically factors affecting internal audit quality of the environmental protection authority of UNDP- funded projects while management support has a negative association but statistically significant factor affecting internal audit effectiveness of environmental protection authority-funded projects in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with R-Value of 74.9% and R- square value of 56.1%. In addition, the analysis result has shown internal audit independence, auditor proficiency and presence of approved audit charter have positive association but were statistically insignificant factors affecting the internal audit effectiveness of environmental protection authority-UNDP funded projects in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Hence, it is recommended that the project managers and other concerned stake holders focus on improving internal audit quality, information technology and management support that would affect the internal audit effectiveness of environmental protection authority-UNDP funded projects in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.