Abstract:
The study aimed at looking on the role of Internal Audit Unit on Safeguarding Public Funds on Local Government Authorities ; the case of Sumbawanga Municipal Council. Safeguarding Public Funds on Local Government Authorities depends much the level of performance of the management and the IAU is supposed to check if the Management perform its duties according to the controls and guidelines, so the report of the IAU must reveal the level of performance of the management so if there is weaknesses we expect the IAU to be in the first line to reveal such weaknesses. Though there is IAU in SMC but still do not reveal the weak performance of the management of SMC.
The objectives of the study were to identify the functions of the IAU in SMC so as to check why it does not reveal the weak performance of the management which causes the misuse of the public funds. The level of competence of the internal auditors was examined to see if they are competent to perform their work. The level of independence also was examined to check if they are independent in mind and appearance. The level of objectivity was examined to see if the internal auditors are free from conflict of interest in their normal works.
Data for the study were collected by means of interviews and sample questionnaires in which a total of 90 respondents participated in the study.
Research findings indicate that IAU has not done enough to safeguard Public funds in local governments because the section instead of ensuring that public funds are properly safeguarded , it ends-up with reports which do not reveal the misuse of the public funds so that many stakeholders recently decide to rely much on external audit like the CAG’s report.
Based on these findings, it shows that the IAU in Sumbawanga Municipal Council failed to reveal the misuse of the public funds so as to make sure that the government officials accountable in various ways on safeguarding the public funds.
Therefore, there is a need to check out the reporting channel of the IAU so as enable them to be more independent in their work for example the IAU have to report to the
Internal Auditor General and not Municipal Director. There is a need also to provide on-job training so as to increase the level of competence and provision of proper guidelines and other support like adequate financial ability.
