State of Internal Audit in Kazakhstan

Abstract

The effect of Internal Audit Services in Kazakhstan plays a considerable role, which needs more research and visibility. This is mainly because internal audits are known to positively affect the eradication of corruption, one of the key factors that interferes in the development of Kazakhstan. Furthermore, internal audit can affect the economy as a whole and have strong correlation with indicators such as CPI and FDI. Today, the relevance of Internal Audit in organizations is associated more with the mandatory regulation of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Joint Stock Companies than with the awareness of the need for internal audit for the organization itself. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to determine the state of the Internal Audit Services in Kazakhstan and factors influencing its development. Based on our hypothesis, we believe that today the Internal Audit Service in most Kazakhstani companies is at the development stage and is still far from being fully effective. To test the hypothesis, we created a Google Form questionnaire in collaboration with the Institute of Internal Auditors. The questionnaire consists of 5 important sections such as information about study participants, characteristics of departments performing the functions of internal audit, the role of IAS in the organization, personnel management, IAS processes and additional questions related to the personal opinion of the respondents. Our study involved 61 respondents who answered all the mandatory sections. The results of the study showed that there are organizations that are still dependent on the managing directors and, respectively, auditors can not be completely independent in performing audit functions. Slow development of IAS in some organizations is due to the lack of understanding by the senior executives and Board of Directors about the necessity of the 2internal audit in organizations. This, in turn, leads to another issue of a small budget being allocated for the development of the Internal Audit Services.