Designing a post-completion auditing system in Maltese public limited companies : an evaluation

Abstract

This study examines post-auditing system configurations by addressing three categories of issues relating to PCA system design and implementation, (1) pre-implementation, (2) implementation and (3) presentation issues. In turn, the structure of the study sheds light on the procedures undertaken during the commencement of PCA processes. The empirical data was collected through the use of semi-structured interviews with 17 PLCs from service and non-service industries. In addition, information regarding the purpose, use and shortcomings of PCA were also elicited due to the interdependence between such factors and PCA system configuration. Moreover, such factors provided a platform upon which, through the critical examination of past literature, recommendations were to be made as to how PCA systems may be configured in a manner to achieve the perceived objectives. The results of the empirical analysis show the adoption of post-auditing within a sphere of projects, including those which are not of a capital nature. Furthermore, for the most part there appears to be a substantial alignment between PCA system configurations across industry sectors. Despite, learning being regarded as the main objective behind the use of PCA, certain inconsistencies seems to exist between the emphasis of such an objective and the manner in which the PCA system is configured. Congruent to theoretical indications, these primarily consisted of the establishment of formal feed-back mechanisms to implement recommendations identified through PCA, the dissemination method adopted and the use of presentation forums for interpreting PCA findings. A combination of such factors may be indicative that PCA systems may not be configured in a manner that enhances the learning potential of post-auditing. The support of PCA processes is, inter alia, dependent on the effectiveness of planning processes, extent of management collaboration and the alignment of information systems with PCA processes to facilitate the capture of data utilised during PCAs. Such factors were, to a certain extent, analysed and empirical findings illustrate specific differences with respect to managements' perception in addressing such factors.