Internal auditor’s contribution to good corporate governance: An empirical analysis for the one-tier governance system with a focus on the relationship between internal audit function and audit committee

Abstract

The effectiveness and efficiency of the corporate governance structure depends on different governance bodies within the organization. As crucial parts of good corporate governance they provide constituting, monitoring and controlling tasks concerning the risk management and internal control system. These corporate governance mechanisms include the internal control function (IAF) and the audit committee (AC). Based on a dataset of 550 responses from U.S. internal auditors, our study explores empirically the IAF’s contribution to good corporate governance. Our results suggest that the IAF constitutes a central element of the governance structure. Furthermore, an intensive interaction between the IAF and the AC is positively linked with the efficiency and effectiveness of the governance processes, internal controls and risk management.