Despite the recent rise of academic attention, accountability is still an equivocal concept as many different definitions exist depending on the field of study (Bovens, 2005; Curtin, Mair, & Papadopoulos, 2010; Mulgan, 2000). However, a minimal conceptual consensus exists across disciplines (Bovens, Schillemans, & Goodin, 2014; Schillemans, 2013). First, accountability is about answerability, giving answers to others having a legitimate stake. Accountability is thus a relational concept focusing on agents that perform tasks for others who, in turn, hold them accountable for them. Finally, accountability is intrinsically retrospective, as actors have to explain or justify their conduct against regulatory norms and normative and professional standards.
The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) also defines public accountability as the obligations of persons or entities, including public enterprises and corporations, entrusted with public resources to be answerable for the fiscal, managerial and program responsibilities that have been conferred on them, and to report to those that have conferred these responsibilities on them (INTOSAI, 2006, p. 68). In this research, the perception of accountability is believed to be an important antecedent of internal audit activities.
Internal audit is defined as the "review of a body's activities and operations to ensure that these are being performed or are functioning in accordance with objectives, budget, rules and standards.The aim of this review is to identify, at regular intervals, deviations which might require corrective action (INTOSAI, 2006, p. 59). |
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