The Roles Of Internal Auditor And Leadership Style In Fraud Prevention And Detection

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the roles of internal auditor and leadership style in the prevention and detection of fraud within state higher education institution environment. This is a mixed methods research study which combined qualitative and quantitative data. The data were collected through interview and questionnaire. The population of the research was the internal auditors of PTN-BLU (state higher education institutions with the financial management system of public service board) across Java Island. From the population, a sample of 34 internal auditors from six PTN-BLU across Java Island was obtained by the purposive sampling technique. The multiple linear regression analysis method, aided with the software SPSS, was employed to analyse the quantitative data, while the software Nvivo was employed to analyse the qualitative data. The results of this research showed that internal auditor played a significant role in preventing and detecting fraud within state higher education institution environment, especially in monitoring the activities in financial and procurement aspects. Leadership style also had a significant influence on fraud prevention and detection within state higher education institution environment, with participative leadership style having the greatest contribution. The variables internal auditor and leadership style simultaneously had a significant effect on fraud prevention and detection in state higher education institution environment, suggesting that when the internal auditor was enhanced and the right leadership style was applied, the prevention and detection of fraud could also be improved.