Purpose

This paper aims to provide empirical evidence of the association between audit committee characteristics and internal audit quality through internal audit professionalization.

Design/methodology/approach

The investigation of the research question was based on 45 usable responses that were received from a survey of chief audit executives from firms listed on the Athens Stock Exchange and combined with publicly available information from annual reports.

Findings

The results indicate that audit committee characteristics (independence, diligence through frequent meetings and interaction with internal audit through valuation) influence internal audit professionalization. In addition, they demonstrate that internal audit professionalization is also influenced by CEO duality and firm’s external auditor.

Practical implications

The findings of this study have implications for audit committees wishing to improve their overall effectiveness, by identifying areas with substantial impact on internal audit quality. Moreover, regulators of corporate governance bodies can also benefit from the results to strengthen audit committee’s efficiency regarding internal audit function oversight.

Originality/value

The results add to the literature on the discussion of internal audit professionalization and complement the work of other researchers in the field of audit committee’s impact on internal audit quality/effectiveness. This study attempts to fill a gap in the literature on the effect of audit committee characteristics on internal audit professionalization, an element introduced from an institutional theory perspective.

中文翻译：

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审计委员会特征对内部审计专业化的影响：来自希腊的经验证据

目的

本文旨在通过内部审计专业化为审计委员会特征与内部审计质量之间的关联提供实证证据。

设计/方法/方法

对研究问题的调查基于对雅典证券交易所上市公司的首席审计执行官进行的调查中收到的 45 份可用答复，并结合了年度报告中的公开信息。

发现

结果表明，审计委员会的特征（独立性、通过频繁会议的勤奋以及通过估值与内部审计的互动）影响内部审计专业化。此外，他们还表明，内部审计专业化还受到 CEO 双重身份和公司外部审计师的影响。

实际影响

本研究的结果对希望通过确定对内部审计质量有重大影响的领域来提高其整体效率的审计委员会具有意义。此外，公司治理机构的监管机构也可以从结果中受益，以加强审计委员会在内部审计职能监督方面的效率。

原创性/价值

结果增加了有关内部审计专业化讨论的文献，并补充了审计委员会对内部审计质量/有效性影响领域其他研究人员的工作。本研究试图填补有关审计委员会特征对内部审计专业化影响的文献空白，这是从制度理论角度引入的一个要素。