Influence of Information and Communication Technology on Performance of Financial Audits in Government Ministries in Kenya

Abstract

Financial Audits in the public sector have since independence been carried out manually in the Country. The use of this manual approach in the performance of auditing had raised queries as to the quality of audits, detection of fraud and timeliness of reports presented to parliament. Through the adoption of Integrated Financial Management Information Systems in Government Ministries, the financial function and operations have since been automated. With the shift of the Government financial operations from a manual approach to an automated system, a manual audit approach to these automated government operations would therefore not be effective, efficient and economical. Fraud perpetrated through the system would also be hard to discover using the manual approach. It was within this backdrop that the study sought to establish the effect of adoption of ICT on the performance of financial audits in Government Ministries on the basis of ICT training, ICT infrastructure, Organizational Setting, Legislative support and Auditing Standards. The general objective of the study was to determine the influence of ICT on the performance of financial audits in Government Ministries of Kenya. The specific objectives were how ICT infrastructure, IT audits training, legislature support, organizational structure and auditing standards affect the performance of financial audits in Government Ministries of Kenya. The research design used for the study was descriptive. The scope of the study was financial auditors at the 18 Ministries who were from the Office of the Auditor General with a total population of 434. To obtain data, stratified random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 87 respondents. Validity refers to the degree to which results obtained from analysis of data actually represents the phenomenon under study. For testing validity the questionnaire was tested on 3 staff that were not included in the final study. Reliability is a measure of the degree to which research instruments gives consistent results after repeated trials. To confirm reliability, instruments were pretested on a small sample which was used in the final survey. Data was collected through questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics then presented in the form of tables for easy understanding purposes. A regression model was used to establish the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The study found out that adoption of ICT in the audit process improves the financial audit process by reducing the time and cost it takes to conduct the audit. Regular training on auditing computerized applications by the Government improves the knowledge of auditors to be able to effectively audit the financial applications. The study recommends for the implementation and utilization of ICT in the audit process to reduce operational inefficiency and to improve the audit process.