| The purpose of this research was to obtain descriptive models representing the ways in which external auditors evaluate the internal audit function. The three factors recommended by Statement on Auditing Standards No. 9--competence, objectivity, and work--were used in describing the internal audit function.; A three-part experiment was conducted using audit managers from "Big Eight" CPA firms. The first part derived characteristics to use as operational definitions for the above three factors. In the second part, four levels were obtained for each characteristic. These characteristics and their associated levels were used in the third part to construct 64 internal audit profiles. Auditors' ratings of these profiles were presumed to be valid at no more than an ordinal level.; Using axiomatic conjoint measurement, additive composition rules were found to be appropriate for fifteen of the auditors, while unknown configural strategies were associated with the remaining three auditors. Interval scaled part-worth functions were constructed using numerical conjoint measurement. Most of these functions were linear or approximately linear. Analyses of scale value ranges showed that the auditors viewed the work factor as most important, followed by competence and then objectivity.; To determine which combinations of factor levels auditors associated with strong (and weak) internal auditing, all 64 profiles were ranked from strongest to weakest using measures of strength computed from the interval scale values of the part-worth functions. These interval scale measures provided not only an analysis of trade-offs among the internal audit profiles, but also enabled comparisons to be made about distances (i.e., magnitudes of difference) between various profile pairs. Finally, analyses of correlation coefficients, composition rules, part-worth functions, and factor importance weights revealed a high degree of consensus among the auditors with respect to the evaluation of internal auditing. |
