A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR COMPREHENSIVE ASSURANCE REVIEW ENGAGEMENTS FOR LESS DEVELOPED REGULATORY ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

Assurance review practitioners are demanded not only to provide information to enhance the credibility of a subject matter or evaluate whether the subject matter conforms with suitable criteria but they are also demanded to be the decision makers’ consultants on the subject matter. For this reason, a strong alignment of assurance review processes with management processes has become imperative to reduce their exposure to failure. The existing models used for assurance reviews do not provide sufficient guidance in jurisdictions with less developed regulatory environments. The study designed a conceptual model to guide assurance review practices. An action design research approach involving interactions at various stages with stakeholders was employed to design and collect data for the evaluation of a proposed intervention. Factor analysis and regression analysis were applied to the data collected and the results confirmed all six principal components and twenty out of twenty-one principles that constitute the proposed model. A composite reliability assessment of the model provided values greater than 0.7 which was adequate proof of its internal consistency. Similarly, the convergent reliability of the model showed that all the variables were above the threshold value of 0.5. These indicated that the model is valid, and reliable and supports the generalized use by assurance reviewers committees to improve performance. The study contributes to the practice of assurance reviews because it built an artifact to guide generic and customized assurance review engagements.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ETHICAL APPROVAL

This research did not involve animals. Furthermore, all procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

INFORMED CONSENT

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the researchers themselves to promote their academic careers and to contribute to knowledge. There are no external funders in the case of this research.