Multiple Agencies
A Report on the Effectiveness of Internal Audit
Report Number 97-073
July 1997
Overall Conclusion
The internal audit function for the State's largest agencies is effective except for two agencies. Of the 12 state agencies reviewed, 10 have effective internal audit functions. The two agencies with ineffective internal audit functions, the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Workforce Commission, have made improvements since our review.
This audit was conducted to review the effectiveness of executive agency internal audit functions. Our review covered site visits and evaluations of 12 of the larger state agency internal audit departments. Based on 1995 data, the 12 agencies represented more than 77 percent of total state operating budgets and more than 71 percent of total state revenues. Also, the 12 agencies represent more than 95 percent of total contracting expenditures for the State. We did not include higher education in this review because our focus was on covering agencies with major contracting expenditures.
Key Point
To enhance the effectiveness of the internal audit function, agencies should emphasize training management and administrative personnel to recognize the need for controls that ensure the proper and effective use of resources and protect physical assets. Each level of management should have responsibilities for identifying risk, designing procedures to minimize risk, monitoring how those procedures impact risk, and making needed adjustments to the procedures.
Contact the SAO about this report.
Download the PDF version of this report. (.pdf)
HTML Equivalent (utilizing Adobe's PDF Conversion by Simple Form).