Determinants of internal control characteristics influencing voluntary and mandatory disclosures

Abstract

Purpose – Concern has been raised over the dubious utility of internal control (IC) reports that contain vague disclosures of unclear meaning or that contain sweeping, albeit, and confusing statements. The purpose of this paper is to examine, from a Malaysian perspective, the internal audit control variables, which are directly responsible for the company to disclose their audit statements voluntarily or mandatorily and make it transparent to the shareholders and public.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 121 publicly traded companies were selected using the systematic sampling method from the target population of 599 companies listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia. The names of the heads of internal audit function of the sample were obtained from the Institute of Internal Auditors Malaysia. Structured interviews were conducted with 40 heads of internal audit function out of 121 companies in order to protect anonymity of the companies that did not feel comfortable responding in writing.Findings ...