LA QUALITÀ DELLA REVISIONE INTERNA IN ITALIA. PRIMI RISULTATI DI UN’INDAGINE

As themes relating to ‘corporate governance’ deal with a number of corporate control bodies, we investigate one of the most important actors in the internal control design: the internal auditing. This function has been assuming increasing importance during recent years and this paper investigates the contribution of the activities of this function to effective corporate management of major Italian firms. Quantitative proxies about audit effectiveness are determined based on variables that describe the operational aspects of the internal auditing function (e.g. ageing of the function, existence of performance measurement programs, type of activities etc.). These proxies are then used to create a comprehensive index of internal auditing quality which providdes an overview of the status of the internal auditing in Italy as well as indicating areas of future possible development of this function.