study of the effectiveness of internal auditing in local authorities and paths to professionalization: case study of the administration of a Moroccan region

Abstract

Following the managerial reforms that the Moroccan public sector has undergone, the practice of internal auditing has become more than ever an indispensable part of good management and governance of public organizations. However, very few studies have been conducted on its effectiveness in the public sphere, and more specifically in the Moroccan context. The purpose of our research is to understand how internal auditing is practiced within a complex organization and to contribute to its improvement. The aim is to evaluate its effectiveness in a context that attempts to reconcile two different logics, political and managerial, that of a local authority. To do this, we adopt a qualitative approach by building our analysis around a material consisting of interviews, observations and documentary analysis, which allowed us to highlight the contributions and dysfunctions of internal audit within the Administration of a Moroccan Region and its ways of professionalization.