Research Article
Abdullah AL-Mutairi, Kamal Nas
Abstract
The study aims to survey the Kuwait State Audit Bureau (KSAB) personnel about what should be done to achieve the bureau’s objectives as a monitoring body providing independent financial and performance audit for government entities. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire distributed by hand to 250 KSAB personnel during July 2018; 189 of them returned completed resulting in 76% usable response rate. The results of the analyses revealed that KSAB could achieve its objectives by strengthening the audit process together with the financial and administrative audit. KSAB should also take specific measures to monitor the performance of the audited government entities. The respondents believe that the audit process can be effective and achieves its purpose by verifying that financial and accounting transactions are supported by related documentation, all financial transactions are recorded and accounts balances are real, not fake. The respondents also believe that it is highly important to plan the audit process, and to gather sufficient and relevant audit evidence. To ensure effective managerial audit, the respondents believe it is very important for the audited government entity to have a clear organizational structure; it must also avoid previous mistakes, deviations, install adequate, and effectiveness internal control system to follow-up managerial decisions associated with public fund protection. The respondents indicated that the effectiveness of the legal system could be achieved by allowing KSAB to report directly to the democratically elected National Assembly. Effectiveness can further be achieved by safety application of laws, regulations and instructions, checking that the authorized people make the decisions. Extra power should be given to the Audit Bureau to maintain responsibility and accountability. Finally, the respondents demonstrated that KSAB can achieve its objectives effectively and efficiently by ensuring that the audited government entity is using financial resources efficiently (without dissipation) and effectively (for the appropriate purposes), using human resources effectively (the right person in the right place).