The essence of information governance for public sector auditing in Malaysia

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for accountability and transparency in the public sector in Malaysia, which has resulted in a change of the political landscape. The public sector is the backbone of effective sustainable development, whilst good governance is a prerequisite. There must be a checks-and-balances mechanism through public auditing that ensures national administration and development are consistent with rules and regulations. To this end, public auditors play a crucial role in verifying the implementation of those activities. Due to the fact that mismanagement, corruption, and fraud are rampant today, information governance would be the answer to curb the crimes, by providing a set of processes, roles, policies, standards, and measures, which together ensure the efficient use of information and thus the achievement of an organization’s goals. This research adopts simple random sampling design involving interviews with six senior public sector auditors. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using NVivo11 statistical analysis tool. It is found that information is the core of public auditing. Findings proved that shortages of and incomplete records impede effective public auditing as auditors spend considerable time looking for relevant records. Information governance is imperative if public auditing is to be more effective, trusted, and respected by members of the public.