Bolivia is undergoing profound and significant changes that require an adequate and timely response that guarantees raising the quality of life of citizens, for which purpose, it is necessary that the plurinational public management emerging from the New Political Constitution of the State generates public value that meets the needs of the population and achieves the solution of their problems to live well.
In this context, it is necessary to exercise control over plurinational public management and over resource managers, for this purpose internal audit is a management control that aims to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of other controls. The Internal Audit arises after the external audit, due to the need to maintain permanent and more effective control within companies and the need to make the function of the external auditor faster and more effective. Situation Applicable to the Public Sector and its institutions.
Although the internal audit within the internal control system is aimed at evaluating the set of measures, policies and procedures established in the institutions to protect the asset, minimize the possibilities of fraud, increase operational efficiency and optimize the quality of the information. economic-financial, focusing on the administrative, accounting and financial fields. However, internal auditing becomes more significant as the volume of operations of the institutions increases and its growth and development makes it impossible for direct control of operations by the collegiate management or the highest executive authority, so it emerges the importance of internal auditing within multinational public management.
The main objective is to help managers and public managers in the fulfillment of their functions and responsibilities, providing them with objective analyzes, evaluations, recommendations and all kinds of pertinent information on the operations examined. This objective is fulfilled through other more specific ones: Carry out the examinations and evaluations, according to a planning and applying a program elaborated in accordance with the established policies and procedures and oriented to the fulfillment of the following aspects:
- Evaluate the degree of compliance with the instructions, plans and procedures issued by the management.
- Evaluate the Consistency, sufficiency and application of the operational, accounting and financial controls.
- Determine that the assets of the asset are registered and protected.
- Evaluate the veracity and reliability of accounting information and other information produced in the organization.
- Carry out special examinations requested by the superior authorities and those that are necessary according to the circumstances.
- Issue audit reports on irregularities that arise as a result of the evaluations, expressing the recommendations that are deemed pertinent.
- Control compliance with the recommendations contained in previously issued reports.
The growth of economic activity and the expansion of the volume of operations within the public sector, originates a great complexity in the organization and administration, likewise, the distancing of the highest authorities with the daily control of operations. Due to this situation, the activity of the higher authorities of public institutions, as those responsible towards third parties and society in general, for the proper management of their interests, is exposed to the risk that not only breaches or deformations in the start-up of operating and information systems, but also to an untimely or wrong understanding of their decisions.
A necessary way for the superior authorities to have a reasonable margin of safety that this situation does not occur or to minimize this risk is for the public institutions to have an effective internal control system, which includes the organization plan and the set of methods and procedures that ensure that the assets are adequately protected and that the accounting records are reliable, that the entity's activity is carried out effectively and that they are complied with in accordance with the guidelines determined by the superior authorities and the operation of internal audit.
In this context, the vision of the Internal Auditor of the future within the internal control system generates the importance of the internal auditor in plurinational public management, since his intervention in public institutions is that his participation will help define the organizational plan and the set of methods and procedures adopted to ensure, as far as possible, the adequate and effective development of institutional activities and powers, compliance with public policies, custody of assets, prevention and detection of fraud and errors, the accuracy and integrity of accounting records and their timely preparation as a management tool for proper decision-making.
Furthermore, the importance of internal auditing results from the fact that in public institutions due to the magnitude of their operations and their large size, superior authorities find it difficult in a personalized way to carry out a complete and exhaustive verification of all documents and operations. Therefore, the internal audit operation will contribute effectively and efficiently in serving society with professionalism and high human quality by having the necessary regulations of a professional nature at the national and international level, the subject of which I will develop in a future opportunity.
However, it can be seen that the philosophy of control does not rest on the fact that public administration is dishonest, but rather that the idea of internal control over public management should modernly represent a basic principle of public law, together with that of separation. of functions, that of legality, compliance with regulations, that of the fight against corruption and others, aspects that internal audit is in a position to provide professionally, therefore, internal audit is important within plurinational public management to contribute to the development of the country to live well.
