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Smart Oversight and Sustainable Financial Discipline: A Meta-Analysis of Auditing Strategies in Evaluating the Adequacy of Internal Controls
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Soheil Barzegar *   |
| Faculty of Management, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran |
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Abstract: (126 Views) |
Purpose: This study aims to quantitatively synthesize the impact of smart auditing strategies in evaluating the adequacy of internal controls on achieving sustainable financial discipline and safeguarding public funds (subject to Article 6 of the Supreme Audit Court Act).
Methodology: Following a meta-analysis approach and the PRISMA 2020 protocol, 17 empirical studies comprising 1,033,175 observations from 2015 to 2025 were statistically synthesized.
Findings: Results from the random-effects model indicated that the implementation of smart oversight tools, such as Artificial Intelligence and Process Mining, has a positive and significant correlation (r=0.37), (p<0.001) with the enhancement of fiscal discipline and mitigating internal control inadequacies. The high statistical heterogeneity (I2 =95.41%) reflects the technological gap between studies and variations in the depth of technological penetration across different jurisdictions.
Conclusion: Evidence suggests that emerging technologies transform internal controls into a structural necessity by significantly reducing the time gap between the occurrence and detection of irregularities, shifting the audit paradigm from a retrospective approach to continuous and preventive monitoring. Transitioning to the "Oversight 4.0" paradigm for evaluating the adequacy of control bodies is a strategic imperative for Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs). Accordingly, it is recommended that SAIs establish "Data Innovation Labs" to implement smart systems in phases based on data maturity, thereby preventing the "Garbage In, Garbage Out" (GIGO) phenomenon. The value of this paper lies in providing a comprehensive model for SAIs that ensures the sustainable protection of public funds by minimizing human intervention and enhancing algorithmic transparency.
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| Keywords: Evaluating the Adequacy of Internal Controls, Sustainable Financial Discipline, Data Innovation Lab, Meta-analysis, Oversight 4.0, Supreme Audit Court |
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Full-Text [PDF 910 kb]
(37 Downloads)
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
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