Evaluation of the internal audit effectiveness of state universities in Turkey

After the accounting scandals in the world, the importance of accounting and auditing issues was once again understood. Therefore, internal audit has become an autonomous unit that provides assurance and advisory services to the senior management of the organization.At the same time, the tasks of measuring and improving the effect iveness of corporate governance, risk management and internal control systems, which are vital for institutions, are an indicator of how important internal audit is for institutions and countries. Although internal audit activity in Turkey started primarily in the private sector, its existence is as important for the state sector as the private sector. Because of this, the adoption of Law no. 5018 was an important step for the establishment of internal audit activity in public institutions. With the adoption of this law, Internal Audit has started to be implemented in state institutions and its development has become a subject of study for researchers as well. In the first part of the study, the conceptual framework of Internal Audit, in the second part the field of activity of Internal Audit, and in the third part the structure and effectiveness of internal audit of State Universities taken part. The last part of the study includes an application and with the application made in this section the effectiveness of internal auditing in state universities is determined by determining the level of internal auditing effectiveness in the institution and the internal auditors' working time and perspectives on these factors are evaluated. As a result of the research, it was determined that the internal auditors did not encounter any restriction during the internal audit activity that would impair their independence. In addition, it was stated by the internal auditors that university senior management supports the internal audit activities. In connection with these results, it has been determined that internal auditors have the necessary information and support on professional competence and development and fulfill the duties and responsibilities stipulated by the legislation. Keywords: Internal Audit, Internal Audit Effectiveness, Internal Control, Risk Management, Corporate Governance