Public internal auditors' perception of objectivity

Objectivity refers to evaluating from a fair perspective, independent of prejudices and conflicts of interest. Objectivity in internal audit is the auditor's ability to evaluate in a way that reflects the truth without being affected by personal opinions, prejudices and conflicts of interest. Accordingly, in this study, the perceptions of public internal auditors towards the factors that are thought to affect their personal and professional impartiality were analyzed according to various demographic variables such as gender, education level, and certification level by using descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA methods. In this context, 118 public internal auditors received an online questionnaire with 5-point Likert-type items. As a result of the research, it is observed that the average perceptions of internal auditors regarding individual objectivity are high. As for the results of their perceptions of professional objectivity, it is seen that they have high perception levels for not accepting gifts, seeing objectivity as a prerequisite for audit, internal auditors' objectivity affecting the reliability of audit activities and objectivity being important for governance. In terms of the situation between the perceptions of individual objectivity and professional objectivity, the perceptions of individual objectivity are affected by the perception of objectivity in terms of considering objectivity as an important element of governance, not accepting gifts with the thought that it will weaken their professional judgment, considering objectivity as a prerequisite for audit, and exhibiting an objective attitude without compromising the quality of audit activities. Those with a high perception of personal objectivity have a significantly higher perception of the issues related to professional objectivity than those with a low perception of personal objectivity. It is observed that women have higher perceptions of the personal relations factor than men. According to the level of education, a significant difference was found only in the perception towards the cognitive biases factor. It has been found that the mean perception of those who have a public internal auditor certificate at A4 level is statistically significantly higher than the mean score of those who have a certificate at A1 level. It is seen that those who find their income sufficient have a higher perception of the economic interest factor than those who do not.