Abstract:

Public administrations must create a system to define, evaluate and monitor risks per Public Internal Control Standards. Risk defining activities must be integral to the planning processes where public administration strategies are determined. The consensus of opinion is that risk management is critical for achieving institutional objectives, and that internal audit units should conduct consulting activities in this regard. In this context, the purpose of this study is to determine the level of awareness regarding Enterprise Risk Management and risk focused internal audit practice amongst internal auditors who work in public institutions in Turkey. In the application part, to identify the present state in subject matter, semi-structured interviews are held with 116 internal auditors from 8 different public institutions. As method of data collection, an interview form is used which consists of 21 open-ended questioned divided into 4 sections. The research concludes that internal auditors in public pursue their internal audit activities as risk focused, and that they have sufficient knowledge of their duties with respect to risk management. Regarding Enterprise Risk Management, it has been observed that the required level of maturity has not yet been achieved in public institutes.

Keywords: