ORGANIZATION AND TASKS OF INTERNAL AUDIT IN DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN BANKS IN SERBIA

Snezana Ljubisavljevic

Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia

The paper attempts to determine the achieved level of internal audit development in Serbian banks, based on the referent Anglo-Saxon literature and practice. Empirical research has included the sample of 14 banks in the Republic of Serbia, out of the 32 banks, with the aim to seek the methods of organizing internal audit and its tasks within them. The subject of this study is to determine how managers and employees in senior positions in the bank understand the role and importance of internal audit. Based on the questionnaire responses, the aim of the paper is to make suggestions for the improvement of this important bank function. The research results indicate that the bank size does not affect the organization methods, responsibility, and tasks of the internal audit of the bank. The achieved level of internal audit development in financial institutions is at a much higher level compared to economic entities, but in many areas, it is behind the internal audit of developed countries.

Keywords: internal audit, organization, tasks, domestic banks, foreign banks

JEL Classification: M42, G21, H83

Economic Horizons, 2013, Vol. 15, No 1, pp. 47-61. doi:10.5937/ekonhor1301045L