Abstract:
Auditing has become a crucial part of every modern organization positioning itself for excellence
in internal control, corporate governance and prudent financial management. To be effective
however, internal auditing activity must be independent. The study explored the relationship
between internal audit independence and internal audit effectiveness in the Kirinyaga County
Government. A descriptive research design was adopted. The target population of the study
consisted of all the forty six (46) staff members from the Directorate of Internal Audit of
Kirinyaga County Government. Primary data was collected through a self-administered
questionnaire composed of closed ended questions. Descriptive and regression analysis were
done with the help of SPSS. The findings indicated that the audit function was less than
independent in evidence analysed. Regression analysis revealed that internal audit
independence had positive and significant effect on internal audit effectiveness at p value ≤
0.05. The study concluded that internal audit independence was an important predictor of the
effectiveness of the audit function in the county government. The study recommended that the county government ensure that the county directorate of internal audit is autonomous and freely
accesses audit evidence necessary in the course of their audit work. The function should not
perform non audit work, freely determine their scope of audit, and always functionally report to
county audit committee.
