Date of Award

6-23-2026

Thesis Type

Masters

Document Type

Dissertation

Divisions

Faculty of Business and Economics

Department

Department of Accounting

Institution

Universiti Malaya

Abstract

In the context of China’s evolving corporate governance landscape, internal audit (IA) functions are increasingly expected to enhance organizational accountability and risk control. However, many listed firms continue to face challenges in achieving consistently high-quality audit outcomes. This study investigates how four determinants-management support, support and acceptance by auditees, interdepartmental coordination, and external audit cooperation-influence internal audit quality (IAQ), with the internal auditors’ competency acting as a mediating mechanism, rather than conflating competence with audit effectiveness. Using a cross-sectional and quantitative research design, data were collected from 200 internal audit and audit-related professionals from Chinese A-share listed companies, including internal auditors, audit managers, chief audit executives, financial officers, and chief financial officers from A-share listed companies through a structured questionnaire based on convenience sampling. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the proposed relationships. Findings reveal that management support, interdepartmental coordination, and external audit cooperation have significant positive effects on the internal auditors’ competency, which in turn strongly impacts IAQ. Furthermore, the internal auditors’ competency mediates the relationships between these three factors and audit quality. However, support and acceptance by auditees did not exhibit a statistically significant impact on competence, nor did it show an indirect effect on IAQ. This study enriches internal audit literature by clarifying the mechanism through which organizational support contributes to IAQ, particularly in the Chinese regulatory and institutional context. It extends agency theory applications while offering practical implications for strengthening audit functions through capacity building and interdepartmental collaboration.

Initial

khm

Additional Information

Dissertation (M.A.) – Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, 2026.

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