Exploring the Factors Influencing Internal Audit Effectiveness in Moroccan Private Companies: A Comparative Perceptual Analysis of Internal Auditors and Managers

Abstract

This qualitative study examines the internal determinants of internal audit (IA) effectiveness in Moroccan private companies through a comparative perceptual approach involving ten internal auditors and eight managers and governance stakeholders. It addresses a research gap, namely the lack of comparative auditor/manager perceptual studies in the context of African emerging economies. Grounded in an interpretivist epistemological stance, the research draws on eighteen semi-structured interviews conducted across three Moroccan cities (Casablanca, Tangier, and Kenitra), analyzed through thematic content analysis using NVivo 10. Data collection was stopped upon thematic saturation, and trustworthiness was ensured through source triangulation and double coding. The initial six-block interview guide enabled the identification of five consensually recognized determinants. Independence emerges as the most widely cited determinant (80% of auditors; 100% of managers), although its meaning diverges: structural for managers, psychological for auditors. Management support, experienced by auditors as the very “oxygen” of the function, is significantly underestimated by managers. Competence is increasingly shaped by a growing digital dimension, and ERP adoption follows a “disruptive-before-beneficial” trajectory. The most distinctive contribution of this study is the inductive discovery of digital maturity as a moderating variable.

Classification JEL : M15, M42

Paper type: Empirical Research