INTERNAL AUDIT EFFECTIVENESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION IN KWARA STATE

Abstract

Despite the constitutional proximity of local governments to grassroots populations, issues such as financial mismanagement, corruption, and poor service delivery remain prevalent, raising concerns about the efficacy of existing accountability mechanisms. Consequently, the study investigates how key dimensions of internal audit effectiveness:  Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS), local government autonomy, control environment, and social audit enhance accountability in local government administration in Kwara State. The study adopts a survey research design, drawing data from 227 respondents comprising local government staff and accountability stakeholders, with 185 valid responses analysed. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics and Generalized Linear Model (GLM) techniques. Findings reveal that PETS, control environment, and social audit exert statistically significant positive effects on accountability, with social audit emerging as the most influential predictor. While local government autonomy showed a positive relationship, its effect was not consistently significant across all model specifications. The results further indicate that strengthened monitoring systems, participatory governance, and robust internal control frameworks are critical drivers of accountability. The study concludes that internal audit effectiveness significantly enhances accountability in local governments. It recommends the institutionalization of digital PETS platforms, strengthening of control environments, promotion of social audit mechanisms, and enhancement of local government autonomy to improve transparency, citizen engagement, and overall governance outcomes.