- Title
- Reciprocal peer reviews : evaluating potential bias and conflict of interest
- Creator
- Baca, Zolile
- Subject
- Reciprocal
- Subject
- Peer review
- Subject
- Conflict of interests
- Date Issued
- 2022-12
- Date
- 2022-12
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- Thesis
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/59358
- Identifier
- vital:62074
- Description
- External quality assessments are conducted to provide independent reasonable assurance that an internal audit activity is operating in conformance with the Institute of Internal Auditors’ (IIA) Standards, Code of Ethics, and the extent of compliance with international best practices. The assurance provided by an internal audit activity is relied on by various stakeholders in the organisation for decision-making purposes. Therefore, it is crucial for an independent external quality assessment process to be credible and trustworthy for internal audit stakeholders to know that the internal audit activity conforms with the Standards and Code of Ethics, which in turn allows the stakeholders to rely on assurances and advice provided by the internal audit activity. The objective of this study was to determine the potential existence of a conflict of interest and or bias, in fact or in appearance, when reciprocal peer reviews are performed by people working within the same district and who are familiar with each other. A qualitative research method was followed to achieve the objective of this study and answer the primary research question. A single case study approach was followed in this study using municipalities in the Overberg District to answer the primary research question, with a purposive sampling method used to select relevant participants for the study. Participants were the Audit Committee members, the Municipal Managers, and the Chief Audit Executives from the municipalities in the Overberg District. An interview guide was administered by the researcher to collect the primary research data through semi-structured interviews. The interviews were electronically recorded after permission was obtained from each participant, and each interview session was also transcribed. The primary data collected was then analysed using the In vivo coding method. Each interview transcript was manually analysed to identify key words, phrases or statements that agreed or disagreed with the IIA’s guidance pronouncements in relation to the performance of external quality assessments, with a specific focus on the use of reciprocal peer reviews. The findings of this study indicated that most participants did not perceive reciprocal peer reviews performed by persons working within the same district to be without bias and or conflict of interest, in fact or in appearance because of familiarities and close relations that exist between persons working in the same district in the same sector. The findings revealed that participants would consider the process and results of reciprocal peer reviews to be credible and trustworthy if they were conducted across the district or even across the provincial borders. The findings further showed that participants perceived a full external assessment to be the most reliable and trustworthy method to be used because of the external assessors or assessment teams having the necessary training, knowledge, and experience to perform external quality assessments which give the credibility and trustworthiness that is required for the external quality assessment process..
- Description
- Thesis (MCOM) -- Faculty of Faculty of Business and Economics Science, School of Applied Accounting, 2022
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (234 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Business and Economics Science
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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NMU School of Accounting
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Baca,Z Dec 2022.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |