Providing a Model of Breaking the Internal Auditors Silence in Iranian Companies: Grounded Theory Approach

Internal audit is an independent and impartial consulting and assurance activity in order to value and improve the operations of an organization. Therefore, as an important element of the corporate governance system, it can play an important role in creating a suitable platform for the Prevention of fraud and financial abuse. The aim of this study is to present a model of silence failure of internal auditors in Iranian companies. So this research is a fundamental type of research in terms of purpose. Based on the interpretative paradigm, this research was conducted with a qualitative approach and using the data-based theory scheme. The research data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 experts in the field of Finance and auditing, selected by theoretical sampling method. In order to validate and validate the data, the methods of the expert judgment approach and the percentage of agreement between the two coders were used. The research data were analyzed in the form of a process called coding, in three stages of open coding, axial coding and selective coding with the help of the 2020 version of the mexicodia software and separated into separate concepts, and a total number of 23 categories were obtained. Finally, within the framework of the paradigm model, a comprehensive model of the failure of the silence of internal auditors was presented, which includes the pivotal phenomenon (failure of the silence of internal auditors), 6 categories for causal conditions, 5 categories for contextual conditions, 4 categories for interventionist conditions, 4 categories for strategies and 3 categories of consequences related to the pivotal phenomenon of research. The results of the study show that the types of biases, along with psychological abnormalities, affect the underlying and interventional conditions that include mental, cultural, individual and organizational factors, and the interactions of these components have led to a major phenomenon in the form of evaluation, classification and coding, which causes the silence of internal auditors to fail.