Avaliação da qualidade do controle interno administrativo nas Pró-Reitorias da Universidade Federal do Cariri, à luz do COSO I

Abstract

This study focused on analyzing the quality of administrative internal controls considering Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Tradway Commission (COSO) as perceived by strategic and tactical level managers within the Pro-Rectors of the Universidade Federal do Cariri (UFCA). In addition to the control evaluation, variables that could potentially interfere with the control quality results were analyzed, namely: size variable, which is defined as the number of personnel plus the executed budget; another variable is the training of managers in the areas of internal control and risk management; and the level of education of managers. The research was carried out with Pro-Rectors, coordinators and heads of centers, involving 57 managers from the eight Pro-Rectors of UFCA. From the point of view of objectives, this research is classified as descriptive, with a qualitative approach. Data were collected through the application of a questionnaire with data on the participants' sociodemographic profile and questions covering the components of COSO I. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics, correlation tests and regression tests. In general, the study concluded the managers' perception regarding the quality of UFCA's internal control, which was given an overall average score of 3.73. According to the Likert scale, the result suggests that the perception occurs only partially, indicating that managers do not clearly understand the application of internal controls. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the process of implementing internal controls. The average for each Pro-Rectors was also analyzed, in which the Pro-Rectors “B” and “C” obtained an average score of 4.14 and 4.12, respectively. According to the Likert scale, managers perceive internal controls as very applicable, suggesting that they perceive the application of controls clearly. For Pro-Rectors “A”, “E”, “D”, “F” and “G”, the average grades obtained were 3.84, 3.83, 3.80, 3.73 and 3.44, respectively. The result indicates that managers perceive control as only moderately applicable, demonstrating that managers' perception occurs only partially. For Pro-Rector “H”, the average was 2.81, which, according to the Likert scale, the perception is not very applicable. This demonstrates that managers do not understand how control works in their unit. To this end, it reinforces the need to improve the process of implementing internal controls. Furthermore, it was possible to conclude that the variables: number of employees, committed budget, length of service working at UFCA and length of service working in the staffed unit have no correlation and do not influence the quality of UFCA's internal control. On the other hand, the data demonstrated that the level of education and training in the areas of internal control and risk management indicated potential for correlation and influence on the quality of internal control. To this end, education and training can be strong tools to contribute to the improvement of UFCA's internal control.