Error and fraud analysis arising from the internal control system in the public sector: Investigation in metropolitan municipalities

The internal control system is an important process that should be implemented in the context of institutions producing and displaying reliable, accurate and transparent information. The internal control system in the Turkish public sector is shaped according to the Public Finance and Control Law No. 5018. Law No. 5018 operates in parallel with the COSO internal control model. The internal control system plays an important role in preventing errors and frauds in public institutions. The internal control system is also an important process for metropolitan municipalities in terms of providing benefits such as effective and efficient use of the hubs, reaching the determined targets, functioning in accordance with the legislation, and reliability in financial reports. Within the scope of the audit reports of the TCA, many risks have been identified due to the ineffective functioning of the internal control system in metropolitan municipalities. In the research, accounting errors and frauds detected in metropolitan municipalities are associated with internal control system components. The fact that there is no study in the literature on error and fraud analysis of metropolitan municipalities within the scope of the SAI reports and associating them with the internal control system makes our research important.