Audit Quality Attributes and Client Satisfaction in the Public Sector in Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to determine if there exists a relationship between audit quality attributes previously identified in the academic literature and client satisfaction in the public sector in Kenya and the extent of the relationship if it did exist. To address this purpose, heads of accounting units in government ministries were surveyed using the research questionnaire. The audit quality attributes studied were: Responsiveness to the client‟s needs Interaction with the audit Committee and the Conduct of the audit process. The study found that there existed a strong positive relationship between both the responsiveness to the client‟s needs and the conduct of the audit process and client satisfaction both of which were significant. Relationship between interaction with audit committee and client satisfaction was found to be weak and positive. In addition, the heads of accounting units in government ministries provided several suggestions for improving the service quality of audits in the public sector. The most common suggestions were: the need for public sector auditors to acquire skills in technical areas and the need for the auditor to be conversant with the government‟s Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS).