Investigating the factors of effectiveness and competence of internal audit in metropolitan municipalities of Iran

According to Article 44 of the Financial Regulations of Municipalities, internal auditors are one of the main elements of post-expenditure monitoring in municipalities, and the effectiveness of internal audit functions ensures reasonable assurance of the acquisition and consumption of resources according to the law and towards the goals set in medium-term plans and their annual budget. This research seeks to identify the effective factors on the effectiveness of internal audit functions and to explain the competencies of internal auditors in the municipalities of Iran's metropolises by using the research literature to identify and receive the opinions of experts including internal auditors, urban financial and economic deputies and financial controllers in the municipalities of Tehran and Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, Kerman and Urmia.Experts participating in this study were selected using targeted snowball sampling method and included 20 people in Tehran municipality and 20 people in other metropolitan municipalities. After screening the indicators using screen test and determining the weight of the mentioned factors using the fuzzy hierarchical method in R software, in order to aim of providing The guidance of recruitment policies and the drawing of professional development policies , the factors affecting the effectiveness of the internal audit functions of the municipalities and indicators and characteristics of the competence internal auditors has indentified.Finally, the research results were confirmed through structured interviews with 3 independent experts. Based on the results of this study, the competencies of internal auditors of municipalities are divided into three levels of general, behavioral and technical competencies.