Internal control, fraud prevention and detection in commercial banks in Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between internal controls and fraud prevention and detection in commercial banks in Uganda. The study was guided by three specific research objectives: a) To establish the relationship between reconciliation controls and the level of fraud prevention and detection, b) To investigate the relationship between internal control size and the level of fraud prevention and detection, and c) To determine the relationship between financial governance controls and the level of fraud prevention and detection in commercial banks in Uganda. Accordingly, the study employed a cross-sectional survey study design, using a quantitative approach, and was non-experimental. The study used correlation and regression analysis to uncover the relationship between the variables. Results from the correlation analysis show that reconciliation control, internal control size, and financial governance control had a statistically significant positive relationship with fraud prevention and detection. Besides, the findings from the regression analysis established that the relationship between internal control and fraud prevention and detection is positive and statistically significant. However, from multiple regression analyses, it was established that it is only financial governance, which is statistically significant, that is, for each unit increase in financial governance there is a 0.400-unit increase in fraud prevention and detection.