Are the Activities of the Internal Audit Function Associated with Audit Committee Quality Factors?

Abstract

This study examines the association between the characteristics of the audit committee and the characteristics of the internal auditing function in public companies in Turkey. The motivation for this study stems from the important impact that effective internal auditing has on corporate governance and the limited academic literature and regulatory guidelines that explore the relationship between internal audit work and audit committee characteristics in Turkish companies. We examine the association between the size and activities of an internal audit function and audit committee quality factors, including its membership characteristics and its relationship with the IAF. The results suggest that the independence of the audit committee and audit committee experience in financial executive levels are relative to the amount of time spent on risk management.